Memory Drawing

"Home #5," 21x24". Gouache, wood glue, colored pencils, nail polish, pencil

   For this assignment, we had to close our eyes and draw a visualization of our childhood home. I moved a lot as a child, so I randomly picked the first house that popped into my head and drew the floor plan. We then worked into the drawings using nontraditional mediums, and I used colors and materials that I associated with that home. Yellow is the predominant color because the carpet was a sort of warm yellow brown, the outside of the apartments were yellowish in hue, and I got my yellow-orange cat while at this house. I used nail polish and colored pencils because I would use those things on an almost daily basis there.

Drawing Collection

"Unseen," Varying sizes from 3x3" to 16x4". Pen, watercolor.

    For these pieces, I decided to draw animals that I personally find really interesting in form and color. Among these are juvenile jellyfish, basket starfish, sea slugs, and planarians. I wanted to try to emulate scientific illustrations and diagrams stylistically while also looking at the formal qualities that each creature has.

Multiple Panel Drawing

 

"Fragmented," Approximately 40x10". Printer paper, rembrandt black pastel, eraser

    For this project, I drew several blind contour drawings on plain white printer paper. I then cut each drawing into several pieces, and rearranged the pieces to make new drawings. I went in afterward with black pastel, spread it around, and erased back into it. It's a rather chaotic and messy piece, and it contrasts nicely with the drawing collection I did.

Transformation Drawings

"Layers," approximately 42x36", Mixed Media (Will specify under each image)

Layer 1; Rembrandt black pastel, willow charcoal, sepia ArtGraf

    For this layer, I used my hands and water to spread medium all over the paper. This entire project was a very hands-on and experimentally cathartic experience.

Layer 2; Gesso

    For the second layer, I again used my hands as a brush and smeared gesso over the surface of the drawing. I enjoyed the way the underlying mediums interacted with the white gesso.

Layer 3; Rembrandt black pastel, joint compound

    For this layer, I decided to take a few steps backward into a more familiar area. In personal work and previous pieces, I have often used stippling and small repetitive clusters of marks. I also had joint compound on me at the time and decided to create thick peaks of it on the paper.

Layer 4; Black acrylic paint

    For my fourth layer, I decided to cover most of the paper in black paint. As I painted, the peaks of joint compound started to break off, so I went ahead and ripped most of the rest off as well. I like the juxtaposition of the clusters of white dots next to the still visible clusters of black circles, and I really enjoyed the fact that it stayed shiny and slick-looking even after it dried.

Layer 5; Gesso, water, glue, pink metallic paint

   I started off with just adding a repeating scale-pattern in gesso over the whole paper, but it felt too similar to the black circular layer. To remedy this, I dumped glue and water onto the paper and mixed it around with my hands before spreading pink paint over the slick surface. This was a rather fun layer.

Layer 6: Wood glue, water, blue metallic paint

   For my final layer, I decided to experiment more with how glue, water, and paint all react and interact with each other. Similarly to the previous layer, I spread water and wood glue around, then mixed blue paint in. With this layer though, I really dug my fingers into the paper to get those blue stripes and trails of paint. I then poured even more wood glue over the top and let it sit, and the blue paint naturally mixed with the edges and looked interesting. I got overzealous with the water in this one, though, and the paper warped quite a bit when it dried.