Finished!

I finally finished my list of the 250 best movies of all time. The last one I watched was Gone with the Wind which seemed suitably epic to wrap everything up with. And now I know the source of yet another famous line that always gets quoted: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Wayfinding Sign

For our design class we had to make pictorial wayfinding signs with no words. We each got a different department or area of the school. We decided on the shape as a class so that there would be some consistency. I am pretty happy with mine but the criticism was that the black arrow doesn't read as an arrow immediately. It was so clear in my mind that I didn't think of that but I can see how it might be unclear and look like the film was meant to be splitting.

Drawing with Paint

In drawing class this week we were experimenting with drawing with paint. I spent the whole time asking myself every step of the way whether I was drawing or painting. I think I tended more toward painting. It is difficult to use paint in such a different way.

I am really happy with the way it turned out, though.

Lily Pond

This week's assignment was to take two drawings of models that we did in class and put them together in a new environment.

The only part of this that I am really happy with is the feather in the corner.

From Memory

In our first drawing class we had to do a drawing from memory or imagination. The perspective in this isn't great but I feel it captures the spirit of the place even if it is rather more spartan than in reality.

Web of Bags

This is from drawing class a few weeks ago.

Links

I have a lot of favourite sites that I visit regularly, sometimes on a daily basis, so I thought I would make a post with links to some of them.

La Princesse Endormie
This is a beautiful collection of photos, art, poems, etc "aiming to conjure an escapist world".

Accidental Mysteries
A post a day covering all sorts of art both vintage and contemporary.

Honey & Jam
A cooking blog full of wonderful recipes and gorgeous photos.

/Film
This is probably the site I spend the most time on. It is a film news site with all sorts of tidbits from the big news to the interesting rumors to the 'making of's. I like it because it sticks to film and very rarely ventures into the realm of celebrity gossip.

Home Sweet Home
I love perusing the great volumes of inspiring houses and decor that get uploaded to this site by its many members.

Well, there are many more but I will leave those for another post.

First Design Project

These are probably pretty self explanatory but in just in case: the assignment was to illustrate the three words we were given using only four black squares. We were to come up with six ideas for each word, develop three of those ideas and then pick one of those to develop into our final design.

The Kid

I thought I had finally watched all the Charlie Chaplin movies on my list(I like them but I was starting to get a bit of Chaplin overload) but then I discovered there was one last one. Turns out this last one was my favourite. It is called The Kid and it is from 1921. It is only about an hour so it is short and sweet.
In the story Chaplin plays a poor con artist of sorts who takes in an orphaned baby and raises him. It is very different to see Chaplin portray a paternal character. And the kid is wonderful.

1/2 Peck

I liked this packaging.

Hanging Chairs

Our drawing teacher likes to create unusual setups for us to draw.

The Slicing Method

This is a method that our drawing teacher introduced. You use your tool on it's side and draw using only straight lines applied in a cutting motion. I am not pleased with what I made in class but the method is interesting and I might experiment with it more.

My Morning Walk

Just a few shots from my route to school.

Large Scale

In drawing class yesterday we got to work very large. Our teacher papered a huge wall and we set to work. We were using the 6 small drawings we did earlier (posted here) as reference. We each picked one of our own to render large and then we were given someone else's drawings to chose our second piece from.

The apple is mine.

And the pocket knife that is hiding behind the chairs.

Because the paper was taped onto plexiglass panels, you could see the drawings, backlit, in the classrooms behind.

Of course the moment we were finished we had to tear them down but it was a fun process.

Drawing project part 2

This is the second part of the three part drawing project for which I did the drawing of Taio on the pig. In class we all switched drawings so that we were were working on the second part of someone else's work. We were allowed to use a different style than they had but it had to transition smoothly.

Old Drawings

Here are the drawings, as promised.

This first one is from before christmas. The assignment was to draw hands and feet so I spelt my name in sign language, and drew my feet.

These other three are from figure drawing this semester.

Old Paintings

I finally brought home all the work that had been accumulating in my locker. Today I'll post the paintings and tomorrow the drawing.

(I am really happy with these fruit ones. We were supposed to paint them once normally, rearrange them, and paint them again using clear brush strokes instead of blending.)

(I really hate this last one but for some reason I decided to post it anyway.)

Black and White

Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. Seeing him in this and A Streetcar Named Desire has completely altered my image of him. Personally, I prefer my new image to the old one created by The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.
As many of you know, I am attempting to fill myself in on the film classics. I started with a list of 250 films and I've been steadily working my way through it. It is great to have a goal because I would probably never get around to watching these old gems otherwise.

The Steed

It's fun making a ground. Messy, though.

This is part one of a three part assignment.

(drawn from a photo of Taio at Pike Place Market in Seattle)