Wooden Still life

Yet another still life!
This one didn't take me as long as the other one this semester. I confess, I fought against doing this one, but Bippes talked me into it and I'm kinda glad that he did... I like it (despite the creepy-skull-aspect) This piece is also colored pencil—I really struggled with the wood grain, and I"m still not sure if I solved the problem.
Unfortunately the photo isn't that great, but hopefully a better one will be up soon

Reflections

My hardest project for the semester. Well, the most time consuming if nothing else. After about 40 hours, if this piece had not made it into the end of semester show, I would have given up—but thankfully, it did :)
This piece was done in colored pencil (my favorite). The glass bottles are sitting on a mirror and there is also a mirror behind the table that also reflects... again!

Chalk Portrait

I hate this thing.
This portrait is still unfinished—I need to fix her hands to match the style of the rest of the drawing, but it's one of those pieces that I doubt will ever get finished. I'm just sick of looking at it at this point!

Anyway, it was a light study and my Bippes had me add more wrinkles than can fit on a horse, and I just want to have a bonfire with it

Abstract Portraits

Okay, here's some more abstraction! We were told to make an abstract portrait out of crayon (picture coming) or out of oil pastels. So I tried both—multiple times! One of these oil pieces was a shape study, while the other was an attempt to work with through a different technique. I personally loath both of the oil pieces—one of which I was really excited about until I overworked it! The shape study features a sunburn on steroids and the other is ghostly and has the highest cheekbones imaginable!
Haha, well the assignment was to explore the media and that's just what I did so I guess I can't complain...

Chalk Pastel Landscape #1

This is one of my final pieces for Drawing 3. I actually really enjoyed doing this one. I wish I had more variety in colors—none of the rich, deep colors were at my disposal (until I stole one from a friend for about 5 seconds—though I still didn't have time to carry it through the entire piece...).
I still need to finish this piece. Bippes had me add in the log, and I agree that the right side was too empty without anything there, but that log doesn't quite do it... and Bippes informed me (after the final was OVER) that I should have just left it out.
Needless to say, I was rather frustrated at the time and I'm still a little irked with the entire situation.
Oh well, it happens :)

Melting Crayons

Well this one was fun—though the photo is awful! I spent an hour or so with an iron in my lap (facing upward), the canvas on top, drawing/painting with the crayons in my hand that melted from the heat of the iron. The result was this slightly crazy piece... that kind of looks like a elementary student did it. Haha, oh well, it was fun to be a kid again for a while :)

Mono-prints

More abstraction! Oh well ;)
We worked with mono-printing this semester and it wasn't exactly my talent! Getting incredibly messy and ending up with something less than satisfying was not my favorite pastime! Bippes liked my technique at first, but after the final (brilliant timing as always) he changed his mind and said he didn't like them
Oh well, it's not something I really shrived for perfection on so I can't really say that I'm horridly upset

Abstract Landscapes

Another series of abstract studies from the beginning of the year: obviously, abstraction isn't exactly my thing... Instead of 'abstract', my pieces are... well, blurry! Haha, the only compliment I was given is that I am good with color. At least I've got that going for me! But I actually enjoyed working with the color—if I had had a chance to work through a few more, I might have come up with suitable abstract pieces, though they would have been more of a color study than anything else :)

Abstract Bottles—Continued

Here's another one of my 'abstract' bottle pieces from the beginning of this semester. He (Bippes) didn't seem too fond of it so I left it out of the portfolio for a while and let my roommates hang it up on our room.

New Toys

My parents (who are absolutely wonderful) bought me a huge box of colored pencils! And not the very thin—the beautiful oil based pencils :]
Unfortunately I have had a mix of timidity as well as a lack of time (since classes started), and have not had a chance to use them until this past Sunday night.
But I couldn't resist on Sunday—I had to break them out.
And then I fell in love. They flow so beautifully—I just love using them! This is the result of my first experiment—working off of a picture of my friend's youngest boy that I stole. Probably not the wisest selection of photos, but I wanted the 3/4 view and this was the best one I could find on short notice.
I do like it, but I had so much fun doing it that that might have tainted my opinion... I have gotten some good feedback thus far, but unfortunately my professors think it's creepy! I was a little surprised, but I guess I can get over it, haha

Critique welcome of course (I already know that the wings of the nose are too small)

Landscape—Colored Pencil

Here's my 12x12 landscape. I did this in colored pencil and it has been a constant frustration!
Drawing blades of grass and individual leaves is not very entertaining, but at least now I can say that I have done it. And I am glad that I will have one in my portfolio.
Looking at it now I can see that I need to get rid of that single light spot in the foreground, so hopefully I will get a chance to fix that and then update the photo

Abstract Flowers

This is my latest project—only a few hours old actually :)
The assignment is to create 3 abstract floral still lives with crayola crayon. I made a few others, but this one is my favorite so far! Unlike the others, where I drew with the crayons directly onto the paper, I used my x-acto blade with this one and shaved off pieces of the crayon. Then I covered it with wax paper (wax side down) and put the iron on it. The ironing had to be strategic in order to get the different levels of opacity throughout the piece. I still have some work to do—hopefully it will get better after more work has been done, the balance is slightly off... and now it's starting to bug me, hah

Updated 10-16-2010::
I've added another one of my crayon drawings—the second one went over much better (orange/blue). The other one (when finished) was described as something that Bippes would expect if I was his little granddaughter—and he would hang it on his fridge! haha, oh well. Not a compliment by any means, but it was pretty funny.
The second one went over great and Bippes even brought in the Drawing 1 class in to see it, so I guess he liked it.

Abstract Bottles

My first Drawing 3 project: Abstract bottles in chalk pastels.
Abstract isn't really my thing—at all. I really struggled with this project and I am not entirely sure how they turned out. Hah, I just don't fully understand abstract art and this was my first time using pastels.
These photos aren't that great, hopefully I can upload some better ones later...

Feedback welcome :) Especially if you have any tips on abstract art!