Thoughts on Drawing - Eleanor Kenimer

I started to draw at a young age because my mom was an art teacher and arts education was highly stressed at the small progressive elementary school I went to.  Scribbled drawings and paintings by my brother and I from when I was just a toddler still cover the walls of my house.  As I grew older I continued to like art, but the presence of art in my life grew slimmer and slimmer.  In middle school I took photography, which I really loved and in high school I took a few general art classes, but didn't like the program at the giant high school I went to.

My interests are really quite varied and going in to college I knew that I wanted to study science, but I was hoping to get a chance to take some various classes in my other interests.  As a freshman, I wasn't able to, but finally this semester I decided to take drawing.  I wanted to take at least one art class during my time at Duke.  I knew that I wasn't going to be able to take many because I am studying something so different, but drawing is something I have always been passionate about and even though I might not be the best at it and it is definitely not the career path for me, I wouldn't want to lose it completely.

I love drawing animals, and especially birds.  I hope that maybe some day I can combine my interests in nature and science with my passion for drawing.  Scientific drawings and sketches have a simplistic beauty that I really love.  I love to look at the drawings in field guides especially bird guides because despite the fact that they are supposed to just look as much like the bird as possible, they definitely have an artistic quality to them.

I also like drawing as a stress reliever, which was kind of the part of this class that made it less than perfect.  I don't like having a deadline for drawing.  I know that that's obviously important as part of a graded class, but drawing seems like something that should be done on your own time, just whenever you are inspired or moved to do so.  Some of my favorite drawings I did this semester were in my sketchbook because I didn't really have to do them at a certain time.  I would take my sketchbook around and pull it out at a random time when I saw something cool or thought of a bird I wanted to draw and would look it up on the internet while eating lunch or on a study break.  I even took my sketchbook on a rock climbing trip and drew a picture of my boyfriend climbing.  But, the big drawings were often more stress inducing than stress relieving. 

Overall, I am glad I took the time in my semester to take an art class.  I'm glad that I was able to do something other than science in my time at Duke.  Hopefully I'll have enough room in my schedule in the future to take something else (maybe photography or painting), but even if I don't at least I got to this semester!