Thoughts on Drawing/Artwork

During the beginning of my high school career, I was really engaged in art, especially painting. However, by the end of high school, I became focused on other activities and classes, so I put all my artwork aside. I decided to take drawing this semester in order to practice skills and make the time for artwork again. This drawing class proved to be a bit of a struggle for me. I still love painting, but drawing has always been my least favorite part about making a painting. After going so long without practicing drawing, I was often frustrated by how  rough and amateur my drawings turned out to be. It was also hard for me to force myself to produce sketches on a weekly basis.

Regardless of the struggle, I do think this course helped me get back into the swing of art and creating. For the last couple years, I have been working with watercolor paintings and small prints. But towards the end of my first semester at Duke, I no longer made much time to do the small projects that I love. This class has inspired me to pursue watercolors again and make some of the cards and prints that I have been putting off. I also believe the sketching assignments in this course were great practice. In addition, I liked seeing the drawings of classmates and taking note of how each student had their own style.

I chose the artist Egon Schiele in the first blog assignment (work pictured below) because I have a love for the way he uses expressive lines, figures and colors. I also believe I have a more expressive style to my artwork, which is what led me to love watercolors.  

Watercolor paint is very versatile and can be made to create realistic or more abstract works. I started using water color paints my junior year of high school to create greeting cards and small pieces of artwork/sketches similar to the style of Schiele.  I hope to continue my love of art and develop my skills in the future, especially when it comes to drawing figures and portraits. Towards the end of my sketchbook, I started to experiment with different faces and expressions and really enjoyed it. I honestly don’t think I will ever be very good at drawings like the ones we did in class. But the work I did in class encouraged me to get back to the style and types of artwork that I truly find worthwhile.