Last year when I found out I would be doing drawing and painting as an elective I was somewhat disappointed because I was hoping for an outdoor ed so I could wear sport uniform more often but once the class was in full swing, I was quite happy with my selection.
Throughout the course, we were required to complete numerous tasks that could be recorded in our visual diaries which would lead to us painting a still life using our own homemade paint called egg tempera. At the time of writing this post, I have so far completed every task required except for the final painting.
Through completely those tasks I acquired many skills such as being able to draw a picture upside down. I also gained confidence in many different areas of art. One of the drawing exercises we did was something called blind-contour drawing. Blind-contour drawing is exactly what it sounds like. We had to draw our hand without being able to what we were doing. After we revealed our ‘drawings’ we drew our hand again except we could see. I used to think that I couldn’t draw hands or I just wasn’t good at drawing them but after this exercise my ability to draw has significantly increased.
During the process of producing my final painting, I encountered many problems ranging from paint losing its pigment to having to throw out my paint all together. Unfortunately our only solution was to remake all of our paints and apply extra coats to achieve a desirable look. I also had a very hard time keeping my picture aligned when I was tracing it onto my canvas. It took awhile to align it but I was able to finish within the double period.
We are currently still in the process of producing our final paintings and so far mine is coming along nicely other than certain colours fading. We are currently not 100% sure why this is occurring but we believe the exposure to light may be affecting the pigmentation.
