11. Week | Field Trip

This week, my Life Drawing I class, we went to our field trip. We visited the Walker Art Center and the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis. Unfortunately the bus was one and a half hour too late, thus we started our trip at 11:00a.m. instead of 9:30a.m. As we reached the Walker there was just one hour and 15 minutes left. So I had to think about that I would like to see. I decided to see the exhibition of the photographer Alec Soth. He shows images from the ordinary everyday life of people living in the Midwest.

from the series: Sleeping by the Mississippi | Alec Soth

Here you can have a look on the artist's website: http://alecsoth.com/photography/ 



Afterward I went outside to see the artwork from James Turrell. I was very excited about that. Last semester in Germany I went with one of my classes to a James Turrell exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, which I liked a lot. At the Walker Art Center the artist created a room under the earth. If you entered the room you can see the sealing has huge frame though which you can see the sky. I expired the sky through the frame more intensive as I would do it without. After a while two birds entered the field of the sky. It seemed like two sea mull, but I was not quiet sure. Then in a sudden a bird of prey appeared. I was spectacular.



crane | Katharina Jourdan

Later the bus brought us to the Bell Museum of Natural History. There we could see a large, biological collections documenting Wisconsin's biodiversity. It shows all kind of animals like birds and fishes. Our assignment was to draw one of the animals. I decided to draw a crane. But I liked the beaver a lot to.

It was a great day!

10. Week

This week, Tuesday's class was canceled. Therefore, I went to the Open Life Drawing Class at 7 p.m. and enjoyed the quiet working atmosphere with a few other students.

first ink experience | Katharina Jourdan

On Thursday, Amy started with a lecture on how to use the ink for our next seashell homework. She showed us through the example of an online assignment what we have to pay attention to if we are using ink (e.g. the upper parts become the lightest parts of the shell and the curved in parts will be the darkest ones). In a drawing using just charcoal or pencil, the darkest parts are close to the viewer and the lightest parts appear farther away. Afterward, we used ink for the very first time. At first we drew a general contour drawing with pencil for half an hour, then we started with ink.

It was a lot of fun to bring color into the drawing. Colors are always my favorite element to express something. Compared to pencil, ink has a momentum which works on its own.

Poster Offensive No.5 | Exhibition Furlong Gallery

After class, I went to the Furlong Gallery to join the opening of the Poster Offensive No. 5 exhibition. It is a great exhibition showing political poster designs! I recommend everybody at Stout to take the opportunity to see it. I had an interesting conversation with the curator Peet Fetsch how he did an exchange program for a year at my university (HAWK) in Hildesheim, Germany several years ago. For more information, have a look on their website: http://www.posteroffensive.com/.

9. Week | Feet

On Thursday, Amy gave us an assignment about feet. First, she was explaining to us on the board the structure of bones and muscles. Later, we were drawing feet from the model. The teacher gave us time to work on one drawing for tow hours, but I couldn't concentrate for that long and was drawing several faster drawings. I tried to experiment with different drawing styles.

feet study | Katharina Jourdan

9. Week | Second Homework

This time in the Life Drawing Class, we spoke in small groups about our second seashell drawing homework:

Homework: second shell drawing (detail) | Katharina Jourdan

Besides the fact that my drawing is too small to cover the whole page, my group enjoyed my work a lot. They mentioned how the line variation supports my drawing. The dark lines of the drawing are creating main focus points. In other parts, lines are used sparingly. The lips of the shell get the most attention. My group helped me realize that I tried to ignore the broken tips of my shell and I should describe them with cross contour lines just like they are. My group appreciated that I used dark lines to describe which parts are closer to the viewer and which are on the bottom creating the illusion of width and depth. I used line variations in my first homework as well, but this time, I used them more consistently.

I was also impressed by improvements that other students have made so far.

Homework: second shell drawing | Katharina Jourdan

Amy wrote her critique on two cute post-its:

"- beautiful line work
 - wonderful cross contour work, especially around opening of shell and just behind that area, where lines are moving around the shell
 - continue to work in getting shell to fit in page
 - a thicker tool may help
 - back 1/3 to 1/4 of shell is confusing reach - I think it just needs more time spent looking and clarifying the form"

I agree with all of the points and looking forward to improving my drawing skills.

8. Week

On Tuesday, in the Life Drawing class, we made some progress on our Manikin work. On Wednesday, I went with my Painting I class to a field trip to Minneapolis. There, we visited the MCAD, MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art) and the Walker Art Center. Inspired by drawings from an illustrator, Erika Olson Gross, I tried a different style when laying down my lines on the paper; we drew a pose for two hours on Thursday.

2 hour study | Katharina Jourdan

Open Drawing Class

Open Drawing class was a lot of fun this week! The model did an amazing job.
So, have a look at my work:

male model | Katharina Jourdan

male model | Katharina Jourdan

male model | Katharina Jourdan

7. Week | Reflection on the first ½ of the semester

reclining nude | Katharina Jourdan

It is mid-term. Hence, I reflected my improvements in the first two months of the semester. I am glad that I am taking the Life Drawing class this semester! I can definitely see some improvements. I prefer to use colors, mixed medias and collages to develop my illustrations. However, the Life Drawing class makes me experience the qualities of drawings. It will support my illustration work.

Besides the fact that I am aware of my developments, there are several things I will focus on to push them forward:

• I would like to allow myself more correction work during a longer study. I realize that I am often repeating the lines, which are already laid out on the paper, instead of looking for different angles or proportions to make the drawing more accurately reflect the nude I am drawing.

• I would like to focus more on the contour lines instead of the outlines of the figure. I will work more on my line variation. My drawings already include a span from thin to light lines, but this can be enhanced even more. There should also be a line variation with each single line.

• In longer studies, I have the tendency to draw the whole figure with the same level of detail. It would make a drawing more interesting to look at if there were areas with more detail and areas with less detail. This is important in order to create focus points to look at. There should be darker and lighter parts, which would also improve the impression of space in the drawing.

• There is no need to always draw the whole figure, thus I should think more about composition and what I want to have on my paper before I start drawing.

View my Mid Term Portfolio here.

image from my Mid Term Portfolio | Katharina Jourdan

In the beginning, my expectations for myself were not high. I know that I have other strengths. But during the last two months, I greatly developed my drawing skills. So, I am excited to develop my skills even more in the next two months.