I Can Breathe!

This is my realistic painting for my 2D Final. Acrylic paint.

Now here comes Christmas.

Now I can breathe.

Fall semester is over, and it was my first.

I can't believe it's over, it went by fast!

I have learned so much in such a little amount of time. I've learned so much about myself as a person.

I am surprised by how much the people I live with have become my family. 

I am also surprised by how Ringling has become my home. It's strange. 

But now here comes the Christmas lights, time to practice what I have been taught on my own time, see those that I haven't seen since I left the chapel where I graduated in May. Oh, my chest is light now. No stress. Just joy. A road trip to my homeland is just what I need.

This is my abstract painting, also for my 2D Final. Acrylic paint.

Before and After

August 2013

This little drawing here on the left is the very first 20min. drawing I did when I came to Ringling in my figure class, and the on at the bottom right, is a 20min. drawing I had to do today.  I don't know how much I've improved, but I do believe that I have learned a whole lot. More than I could have imagined. At first this class was extremely intimidating and I felt as though I could never amount to what more than half of the students do here, as Ringling is like the Harvard for artists - so many talented people - I am honored to be surrounded by them. But instead of looking at people in this way, and feeling down in the dumps all of the time because I feel like I won't ever improve, I decided to learn from them and ask questions. Why do they do what they do? How do they do it? I ask for their advice, and simply make friends out of these people.

December 2013

It is finals week and I'm hoping that I will have the strength and courage to do the best I can with every project I am given. I'm so thankful to God. I've made it thus far without failing, and I've been learning so much! At first I thought that my imagination was watered down and blocked when I arrived here. but no, what has happened? My imagination has been watered. Nurtured. Put through the flame. Refined. I hunger now. I long to improve and adopt a style where my hand can move freely, without wondering where limbs go and if they're in proportion. I can feel it! I know that I can! I have stories to share!

This last picture below is my attempt to tell a story. Facial expressions are my favorite things to draw, because when I draw them, I end up laughing no matter what is going on in the picture. I don't like my current way of drawing faces and people at all. But all I care about is that I enjoy myself while I draw, and that's what's going on so far.

It's finals week and I'm tired. But I'm also determined.
I'm determined to get through this last week of Fall Semester and finish my projects the best I can. I really do want to do a good job. I hope and pray that everything will turn out alright.

Aching For Family

Hello, lovlies!
Beside and below you will find a compilation of just a few of the drawings I did in my figure class. Some I am proud of, others - not so.

Finals are upon me and I'm having a hard time figuring out how, exactly, things will fall into place. Project upon project. It's like a huge hurricane is coming through, then in a second it will be gone. I'm hoping that I will be able to produce quality work in all of my classes before I go off to break.

AND SPEAKING OF BREAK. I cannot wait until I go back to my beloved Georiga! I've been gone ever since I left the chapel, graduated with a robe and hat. My heart longs for the air, the smell of the trees, the sweet people, and most importantly my family. I'm aching for home. I'm aching for peace.

Pushing Through The Colors

This first piece is an abstract painting that represents fall  by using mostly triadic colors (purple and green and yellow). Like most abstract paintings, many people saw something different. However, when I was creating it, I wasn't considering what others might see, but mainly what I felt I saw. While painting, I felt a strong longing for my family and friends at home because fall is that special season for me. It's full of so many special memories of so many special people that collectively create a mosaic in my heart.

The second one is made to represent rhythm, using analogous colors. How I came up with the concept: I was relaxing on a sofa after a long, hot afternoon, and about to enter one of the deepest sleeps I have had - and this 'billowing, blooming' image appeared under my eyelids. So during class, bored out of my mind, i sketched it out. It became this sucker!

While I've been at Ringling, it's been an incredible experience - don't get me wrong - but like many, (because there's always that kid who's ready to get away from home, well, I wasn't that kid) I began to feel lonely, because leaving home the world became a massive space of people and scary things. Massive, loud with hate and selfishness, wittiness, smiles, tears, laughter, screaming, hands and bodies and faces and smells and the heat. I was congested and terrified.

But so far, it's all been worth it.
Is it easy? Heck no! Nothing worth pursuing is going to be easy.
Just have to push through the colors, I guess, and then everything will turn out the way it should.