Kind of a whiny entry.
Feb. 4th, 2010 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pacificpikachuExcuse my whining in this entry! I'm not super annoyed or anything, just doing some slight venting.
Haven't gotten any pictures of my new chickens yet! I will do so ASAP, but I keep getting home after dark when they're asleep, so it'll have to wait until I'm home and not rushing around and it's not dark. KJSHDAH they're so pretty! ♥
I think I'm officially concluding that my hands are allergic to pencils. I've always hated using wooden pencils and noticed my hands get uncomfortable when I use them, but only today did it occur to me that this is probably, in fact, an allergic reaction. My hands swell up, get red and patchy, itch and hurt, and sweat when I hold pencils for longer than about ten minutes. It all makes so much sense now! Definitely going to stick to pens at all times if possible, though I use pens 99.5% of the time to begin with. I started using pens consistently in high school and since they've become my favorite medium, both for art, note taking, and everything else pretty much. I came to the pencil allergy theory while in art class today feeling miserable using a pencil, and scratching so much at my poor red swollen hands that the skin was sloughing off a bit. My professor wants me to try wearing thin cotton gloves while drawing with a pencil, so we'll see how that works, but if that doesn't do the trick I'll likely just be excused from using pencil altogether (other than perhaps mechanical pencils--I don't think I have an issue with them?).
Kind of an odd conclusion to draw about myself, but it does make sense.
I keep getting strangely depressed in my drawing class. I think it's partly because of the pencils, partly because I am so sick and tired of still lifes, and partly because possibly my medication isn't doing the trick or something. The more drawing classes I take the less I'm interested in drawing still life set ups. It seems like they capture exactly the essence of what I'm uninterested in as far as art goes. I like to draw living things that move and have anatomy, not random objects. I prefer to work off of live creatures or out of my imagination. I like to work small and detailed, and struggle with large pieces. I'm picky and have my way of going about drawing, and when that's challenged I get rather disgruntled. I'm certainly willing to experiment with new ways of drawing, new ways of looking at things, and so on, but I have a hard time summoning the interest in trying these things out if I can't work on pieces I'm even remotely interested in. There are only so many times one can draw a vase or a box or whatever before it grows very tedious, and seeing as I've taken tons of art classes in the past, I've done plenty of them. And they're not any more interesting than they ever were. I can understand why they're important to do, but they just hold my interest so little that I feel annoyed when I do them.
And this, my friends, is why I'm not an art major. (Well, that and I feel my true calling above all things is with animals.) I am very particular about art, about what I'm interested in drawing and when and how and with what mediums. I'm very stubborn, and honestly my dedication to art is too mercurial to depend on in any stable way. Some days I feel like drawing like crazy and like I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, other days I feel like I can hardly doodle a Pikachu, much less anything more complex than that.
I'm sure I'll do just fine in the drawing class, but I do get frustrated with still life, especially when working in pencil (which I also just plain don't care for, in addition to the allergic reaction to them), especially when working on a large piece of paper and expected to fill that paper with large forms. Hopefully we'll switch gears soon enough and I'll have more free choice.
Anyway, just had to whine about that, trivial as it is. I probably shouldn't continue taking art classes now that I know this bothers me, but, hey, I do like learning new techniques and being in situations where I'm expected to produce art. If I don't take art classes, it's hard for me to consistently draw anything other than little class doodles.
Nothing else to write about, unfortunately! Things are fairly uneventful. This weekend I think Daniell and I are FINALLY going to have an Eva marathon! I'm hoping it works out, after all I've been trying to get her to see Eva for over a year now.
Haven't gotten any pictures of my new chickens yet! I will do so ASAP, but I keep getting home after dark when they're asleep, so it'll have to wait until I'm home and not rushing around and it's not dark. KJSHDAH they're so pretty! ♥
I think I'm officially concluding that my hands are allergic to pencils. I've always hated using wooden pencils and noticed my hands get uncomfortable when I use them, but only today did it occur to me that this is probably, in fact, an allergic reaction. My hands swell up, get red and patchy, itch and hurt, and sweat when I hold pencils for longer than about ten minutes. It all makes so much sense now! Definitely going to stick to pens at all times if possible, though I use pens 99.5% of the time to begin with. I started using pens consistently in high school and since they've become my favorite medium, both for art, note taking, and everything else pretty much. I came to the pencil allergy theory while in art class today feeling miserable using a pencil, and scratching so much at my poor red swollen hands that the skin was sloughing off a bit. My professor wants me to try wearing thin cotton gloves while drawing with a pencil, so we'll see how that works, but if that doesn't do the trick I'll likely just be excused from using pencil altogether (other than perhaps mechanical pencils--I don't think I have an issue with them?).
Kind of an odd conclusion to draw about myself, but it does make sense.
I keep getting strangely depressed in my drawing class. I think it's partly because of the pencils, partly because I am so sick and tired of still lifes, and partly because possibly my medication isn't doing the trick or something. The more drawing classes I take the less I'm interested in drawing still life set ups. It seems like they capture exactly the essence of what I'm uninterested in as far as art goes. I like to draw living things that move and have anatomy, not random objects. I prefer to work off of live creatures or out of my imagination. I like to work small and detailed, and struggle with large pieces. I'm picky and have my way of going about drawing, and when that's challenged I get rather disgruntled. I'm certainly willing to experiment with new ways of drawing, new ways of looking at things, and so on, but I have a hard time summoning the interest in trying these things out if I can't work on pieces I'm even remotely interested in. There are only so many times one can draw a vase or a box or whatever before it grows very tedious, and seeing as I've taken tons of art classes in the past, I've done plenty of them. And they're not any more interesting than they ever were. I can understand why they're important to do, but they just hold my interest so little that I feel annoyed when I do them.
And this, my friends, is why I'm not an art major. (Well, that and I feel my true calling above all things is with animals.) I am very particular about art, about what I'm interested in drawing and when and how and with what mediums. I'm very stubborn, and honestly my dedication to art is too mercurial to depend on in any stable way. Some days I feel like drawing like crazy and like I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, other days I feel like I can hardly doodle a Pikachu, much less anything more complex than that.
I'm sure I'll do just fine in the drawing class, but I do get frustrated with still life, especially when working in pencil (which I also just plain don't care for, in addition to the allergic reaction to them), especially when working on a large piece of paper and expected to fill that paper with large forms. Hopefully we'll switch gears soon enough and I'll have more free choice.
Anyway, just had to whine about that, trivial as it is. I probably shouldn't continue taking art classes now that I know this bothers me, but, hey, I do like learning new techniques and being in situations where I'm expected to produce art. If I don't take art classes, it's hard for me to consistently draw anything other than little class doodles.
Nothing else to write about, unfortunately! Things are fairly uneventful. This weekend I think Daniell and I are FINALLY going to have an Eva marathon! I'm hoping it works out, after all I've been trying to get her to see Eva for over a year now.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 11:10 am (UTC)Thumbs up.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 08:00 pm (UTC)I find still life all right in small doses and I can see why they use still life in beginning art classes, but seeing as I've taken a ton of art classes in my life, I've grown rather fed up with working on them. They're just...not my piece of cake, and I don't feel like they're helping me improve in any way that I really care about. XD
The pencils we're using are 2B and 4B, but I agree it doesn't have as much impact as charcoal. Unfortunately, charcoal seems to bother my hands even more, though I'm not sure if it's purely physical or because I'm weird about getting stuff (especially powdery stuff) on my hands. I'm such a weird artist! I prefer ballpoint pen over any other medium, to be honest.
Thanks! I'm glad you like my animal posts, seeing as they're what I post about more often than not. :D My life is really not that exciting, but at least it's chaotic and interesting! I'm not the sort who likes things to be purely straightforward and simple.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 12:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-04 06:38 pm (UTC)How weird! You should try holding other wooden things to see if it's the paint or the wood.
As far as the still life stuff goes, I totally agree. While I guess it's good for developing shading skills or whatever, it is hell of boring and pretty limiting if that's the only thing you're doing. Maybe you have a bad teacher?
As an art major here, I've only done maybe six or seven still life drawing sessions total in one or two of the art classes I've taken, and usually it was in the lower division classes. Other than that, in the other art classes, they pretty much let you draw what you want for the most part, so being an art major isn't all that bad. :pppp