Portrait Exercise
When I was in Alaska researching, there was a component of our expedition focused on learning various artistic techniques. In the scientific field, the reasearcher may not have access to a camera at all times, so being able to represent an observation through art is a great skill for a scientist to have.
In this portrait activity, we turned to a partner(, my partner was a good friend who happened to be wearing the same jacket as me). Our challenge was to draw a portrait, except we couldn't lift our hand off of the paper, couldn't look down at the paper while drawing, and had one minute to do this. What a challenge!
I was honestly pretty proud of how mine turned out, I captured my partners glasses, mask, and some jacket details. I would definitely reccommend this activity, it really makes you think!
Negative and Positive
This was definitely my favorite art activity I did over the summer. In it, I was practicing using negative space as if it was its own object. This was pretty mindblowing for me for a couple reasons! Firstly, I've always had issues with implementing shadows in my art. I get so caught up in trying to make it match the object as I imagine it underneath. This was a great exercise, it opened my eyes on a whole different way to view the world. Secondly, it made me curious about focusing on observation over inferring what I think the shadow should look like. I drew exactly what I saw, it wasn't a shadow- just space. I've always hated drawing off of reference images, but this changed my view. I'm looking forward to playing more with these concepts in my art.
Landscape: Arch Beach
Though this art piece isn't notable for any new techniques or styles, it has a special place on my heart. I drew this landscape after taking hours to help set up a tarp at the field site I researched on in Alaska. My group got so lucky, we set up the tarp right before a flurry of rain hit us. Everything was soaked, except us under the tarp. My friends and I all took shelter under the tarp for a couple hours before our dinner was cooked, talking and drawing. This landscape was the bay I sawin front of us.
Inference vs. Observation
As I mentioned in my paragraph on Positive and Negative space, I got a great opportunity this summer to question and adapt my inference in art creation. In this specific guided activity- it was a blatent lesson. In this art piece, I was told by an instructor to draw what I believed seaweed looks like. I tried my best to include the bulb, stem and small leaves. Then, I was told to find I piece of seaweed, and draw the specific details of it. It surprised me how the art pieces compared and contrasted. I got the main features down, but not the little textures and details.