Flashback Friday...26

It's that time again...and this week Flashback Friday is photo-less...I'm just reminiscing a little.

Right now I'm sitting in my closet at my $8 school desk in a chair my dad brought up from the kitchen. Since I'm in the closet there is no plug-in, so lappy could die at any moment...just a warning. So you are probably wondering why I'm sitting in the closet. Well it's not because I'm hating the new year THaT much, nor am I about to make some big statement. I'm here because oddly enough the best lighting in the house is here. I need good lighting because I'm busting out the art supplies from high school and am trying to draw a decent picture.

I took three years of art in high school and never had a natural talent for art, but I was taught enough that I could make a decent pastel drawing. For some reason pastels were my favorite medium to work with, probably because they are the most forgiving and the messiest :) (but that can be a bad thing too sometimes)

My first year of art I didn't learn much. The teacher wasn't all that great and the assignments didn't reinforce the methods being presented. However the second time around we had a new instructor. She was amazing! That year I loved going to class every day. We covered all the same areas as the previous year, only better, and then we got to go into other things like carving a lino block and then how to use it for printmaking. I somehow managed to work to piece Starry Night into most of the sections :) I loved the class so much I just had to take it again. So my third and final year of art I was considered to be an 'advanced art' student and got to choose my own assignments- within reason. I chose to focus mainly on pastel work. I practiced by imitating other pieces of art ranging from a tree illustration in a children's picture book to Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Cypresses.

After graduating I had all intentions of keeping up with my artwork. But life happened and the art didn't. During our move I found a bunch of half finished sketches on my other desk. I hate that I did that because I can't just pick back up where I left off. I have to practice a lot to get back to the point I was at before. I discovered that tonight.

Two weeks ago I checked Pastels in 10 Steps out of the library. I attempted to draw a picture of a pomegranate from the book...it was a little depressing at first, but now that I have it pinned up on the wall it doesn't look quite as bad. This time I hope to stick with my drawing and continue to improve. I just started a sketch that is white charcoal on black paper of the photo below (I changed my mind about not having photos in this post). This is actually a photo I edited by combining three photos I took this summer. I had to make it black and white because of the different layering and transparency effects I used...but it works out well for the purpose of my drawing.

This is my art teacher from my junior and senior year. I miss her.

I'm going back down to the old house tomorrow and I'll try to remember to grab some of my old artwork to scan in... Lappy is dying so I must go...