Katie Heckman- Thoughts on Drawing
Ever since I was little I have had a fascination
with art. Though I excelled in athletics, during my free time I would
always find myself doing crafts. Every birthday I was gifted the latest
art set or some interesting art supplies that my family came across and art
class had always been my favorite subject in school. In high school I
particularly enjoyed painting. Sophomore year I enrolled in my first painting
class and learned the basic techniques of oil painting. Over the next two
years I always included a painting class in my schedule and I grew immensely as
a painter. My teacher saw how much I enjoyed painting and how much I
excelled in art that upon graduating she insisted that I pursue further
education in art and possibly consider it as a major, but as I was already to
committed to Duke for basketball, I didn't give this recommendation much
thought.
I have greatly regretted this during my time at
Duke. I have missed having art classes in my life. Occasionally a
friend and I would paint canvases for wall decorations, but besides these
random evenings I have been disconnected from the art. This lack of art
in my life made me extremely excited for the Drawing 199 class. Though I
have never taken a class that specifically focused on drawing I was ready to
have designated time for art back in my life.
Though painting and drawing are similar, I was very
intimidated the first day in class as we were instructed to draw the collection
of objects in front of us. Never before had I drawn or painted directly
from observation before and I wasn't sure I would enjoy it or excel at it, but I
believe I have. I quickly began to look forward to class and our homework
assignments. My confidence in my abilities as drawers have grown greatly
and I believe that is due to both this class and my background in painting.
This class taught me the fundamentals in drawing, but I think my painting
background has allowed me to excel in the shading of my images to make them as
realistic as possible.
I have greatly enjoyed this class and am sad to see it ending, but I
know that I will continue with drawing as it has grown from homework to a
hobby. I know that have skills have grown a lot this semester, but I have
a lot that can still be improved upon. This class has rekindled my
relationship with art and I am not going to let it go again.
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