Upside Down Headless Goddess

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful week since my last post. With school starting and everything I have been fairly busy trying to get organized.  Anyhoo, my classes seem like they are all going to be interesting, which will make for a good semester. Most of my professor's are a little crazy, but hey, it's college, I'm getting an art degree, and they are all super nice and very helpful. Yay! I made the switch from Baroque Art History to History of Italian Renaissance Art, so that will probably be for the best.

My drawing class is starting off well. Today we had an actual day of work and we were working with charcoal and erasers. I have never been a huge fan of reductive methods, but I am slowly learning to enjoy using my eraser as a tool to make art, instead of just to fix it. First we covered our 18x24" sheet of drawing paper with soft, black vine charcoal. Then my professor showed us a series of images of the same subject which progressively became more clear and more detailed. At first we started out with a big blurred shape, which we used our erasers to create, then the final image revealed what it was we were trying to create. 

This project was all about positive/negative space, shapes, proportions, details, and most importantly...seeing. Even when I was teaching art lessons in high school I always told my students and anyone who ever said, "I can't draw, so I can't take a drawing class,"  that art is nothing more than a skill that one must learn. If you can ride a bike, you can draw. You had to learn how to ride a bike, just like everyone must learn how to draw. Yes, some people may have a better eye for the art-- there is most definitely a learning curve, but anyone can learn how to draw, and how to draw well. This project proves that point. At the end of the project my professor revealed the finished image...and to make things more interesting, we had been drawing it upside down.

This project was challenging for me because I would always rather look at what I am drawing and draw it, than take progressive steps with value to get there. It took me out of my comfort zone, and that is usually a good thing. I am surprised that it turned out as well as it did, simply because I was blindly erasing and charcoaling away. Guessed what it is yet? (Hint: The post title should be a dead giveaway)

If you guess Nike, you are correct! This sculpture of Nike, which, ironically, we discussed in my Art History Survey class earlier this morning represents the Greek Goddess of Victory. So there ya go. I would have to say that today's drawing class was most definitely a victory. (Even though my sketch could use some fine detailing)

As you go about your day or week don't let your desire to stay in your comfort zone keep you from doing something new or trying it in a new way. It might be fun, it might be frustrating. It might be a disaster, or it might turn out marvelously. You never know. Oh and remember, it's the random reasons...