Thoughts on Drawing

By Lynea Bull

Drawing this semester has given me the opportunity to work art into my life a little more. These past 4 years at Duke haven't really allowed for me to keep up with art and playing music so it was really nice to get back into it. I was a little skeptical because I enjoy more imaginative/fantasy/cartoon drawings and still life has never been something I've enjoyed. I still don't enjoy still life drawings of inanimate objects. And I especially don't like backgrounds. I think that's mostly because I'm not used to taking so much time and putting so much effort into something that isn't in the foreground or the main figure in the drawing. However, I've learned that I am capable of drawing backgrounds for my drawings. The assignments where we worked in mid-ground and background images into the drawing really helped me out.

I've also learned that I'm not fond of using charcoal at all. I find it really messy and can't seem to figure out how to keep the rest of my drawing clean. I actively avoided it after the one assignment that required it. I might take a stab at it again, sometime this summer, but I don't really see myself getting too invested in using it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this semester. I was so happy to get to draw again. At times, especially when I was feeling the heat of a deadline, drawing for class felt like a chore. Most times, it was very enjoyable. It reminded me of what I used to like doing in high school and it made me really happy. There's a sense of fulfillment you can get from finishing a drawing and being satisfied with its outcome (in whole or even just little parts of the drawing), and I really missed that.

Donatello

Sagrestia Vecchia- La cupolina affrescata.

Donatello
By Lynea B.

Donatello, born Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi in Florence around1386. He was a popular early Italian Renaissance artist who produced many sculptures during his lifetime. His sculptures were made of marble and bronze. Having been educated in his youth at the home of the Martellis (a weathy family of art patrons and bankers) he received artistic training from a goldsmith and then apprenticed with a metalsmith and sculptor. His early work followed the Gothic style but he later developed a more emotional style that incorporated perspective for a realistic look. I’ve selected a few images from the book “Donatello in San Lorenzo a Firenze” that showcased photographs taken by Aurelio Amendola of some of his works. Most of the images in the book depicted Biblical scenes—Donatello was known for doing commissions for churches and of Biblical characters. Donatello died in 1466 in Florence.

I was drawn to the image above because I was particularly drawn to the colors, which the scanner did no justice to. The contrast of the gold and yellow to the backdrop of the dark blues of the night sky are really amazing. This painting was done on a high, domed ceiling. This is one of the few, non-Biblical works of Donatello.

Pulpito Della Passione- Crocefissione.

The reason I chose Donatello was because while browsing the stacks in Lily library, I was drawn to the long spine of the book that had his name written on it in all caps. I honestly knew nothing about Donatello beside the fact that one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was named after him, meaning he was a Renaissance artist. I wanted to know more about him and see some of his work. That proved to be a bit difficult when web search kept giving me the Ninja Turtle instead of the Italian Renaissance Artist. Donatello was mostly a sculptor, but using the internet to find images of sketches he might’ve done was pretty much impossible because sketches of turtles was all I was finding. Unfortunately, the book I used as my main source had only photographs of sculptures and buildings. This makes sense granted that sculptures are more likely than sketches to survive hundreds of years.

Pulpito Della Resurrezione- Ascensione.

Sagrestia Vecchia- San Giovanni.

I think these sculptures really show the emotional style Donatello became well known for. He moved farther and farther away from the expressionless, Gothic style with long emphasized lines and more into a emotional, realistic style. One of his most famous works, a sculpture of David, was done during an earlier part in his career and exemplifies the Gothic style.