Decision

If you are decisive, people will be pissed at you. If you are indecisive, people will be pissed at you. If you are decisively vague, you can keep people confused for hours.

Drawing Course Preliminary Information

In preparation for my drawing course during the fall, I have begun looking at information for the course. I have looked at information in the North Carolina Community College System Common Course Library, as well a previous semester syllibi from CPCC. I will be taking the course at Gaston, but I assume the courses will be taught similarly, and Gaston doesn’t provide online syllabi. I was going to email my instructor to request a previous semester syllabus, but it would appear that he doesn’t have an email address. Anyway, here is the information I found that gives me hints as to what I may be up against this semester (Fall 2007).
Course Description, NCCCS CCL
This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes.This course has been approved to satisfy the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement for transferability as a premajor and/or elective course requirement.
Course Description, CPCC
This course introduces the language of drawing and the use of various drawing materials. Emphasis is placed on drawing techniques, media, and graphic principles. Upon completion,students should be able to demonstrate competence in the use of graphic form and various drawing processes. Students will apply theories of perspective and composition using media that includes graphite, ink, charcoal and conte crayon
Objectives

  1. Objectives: Have completed assigned problems providing experience in the use of: pencils, ink & pen, charcoal, felt-tip pen, ink & brush and conte crayon.
  2. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of these materials and their use by the appropriate choice and use of materials for specific drawing tasks.
  3. Have completed assigned problems, which demonstrate a satisfactory use and understanding of drawing techniques and terms including: contour line, hatching, cross-hatching, line gesture, mass gesture and scribbled line gesture.
  4. Have completed assignments which demonstrate the ability to use a range values to create the illusion of three dimensional space through the use of dry media such as: charcoal, conte crayon, pencils, chalk and graphite.
  5. Have completed assignments that provide experience in the use of wet media such as: ink: pen & ink, pen & wash, brush & ink and mixed media.
  6. Have completed assignments that demonstrate the ability to create the illusion of a variety of textures that occur in nature.
  7. Have completed assignments that demonstrate an understanding of composition, and an awareness of selecting formats, open or closed composition, balance, and repetition of shapes and lines.
  8. Have maintained a daily sketchbook with daily entries that reflect growth in content and drawing ability.
  9. Be proficient in basic drawing vocabulary, and methods of verbal discussion pertaining to their own work as well as drawings in general.
  10. Have completed assignments that demonstrate a basic knowledge of linear perspective techniques, and how these techniques can create the illusion of depth in both architectural and natural forms.
  11. Have completed assignments that demonstrate a use of one-point, two-point, and multiple vanishing points as they relate to objects drawn in linear perspective.
  12. Have completed assignments that demonstrate knowledge of circular forms drawn in linear perspective.
  13. Will demonstrate an understanding of space relationships in landscape drawing.
  14. Will be introduced to the potential expansion of subject matter and modern trends as related to assigned drawings.
  15. Have shown growth in the development of a personal style
  16. Have organized a portfollio of works that demonstrate an ability to select the best works for presentation, and to have those works correctly matted or glazed for presentation

Introduction to Me And Drawing

What is it that attracts me to drawing? It is a simple art form. Lines and textures create the image. Nothing excessive, color isn’t even a consideration on most. I have sought to understand my interest in a book I have on the topic of drawing. I have seen many drawings that do not interest me in the least, they are harsh and abstract. I like drawings that are sensual and simple. My obsession began with admiring drawings of the naked male form, especially ones that involve a focus on the muscles. A more detailed admiration involves simplistic images of muscles resisting bindings of rope or chain.
Aside from the obsession with certain drawn images, and the ability for simple images, I also have a deep appreciation for the mediums involved. I have always had a paper fetish, so something like drawing which lends itself naturally to using thick, crisp, sensual sheets of paper can make me tingle. I like the feeling of holding a pencil as it drags across paper, and with oil crayons I love the appearance and sensuality as the instrument rubs across the gorgeous fibers of the paper.
As far as why I am taking the drawing course, as much as I admire drawings, when it comes to actually doing the act, I suck.

Excellent Service From The USPS


I received my latest Galls catalog today in the mail inside of a clear USPS bag. Here is the label from the bag. I was already pissed at USPS this week because they managed to not follow simple instructions (scan a SCAN form to expedite tracking), and in the past few months, general mail delivery has been very slow. Just another reason we should kill off USPS and let a real private corporation that can be held accountable take over.

The Library

Assignment:
Describe the smells in one of these places: a church, a hospital waiting room, a public bathroom, a library. (In 3-4 paragraphs or 1 poem.)
Response:
Early in the morning
Enter the old building
Walls of stone and mortar
The lobby smells like a damp cave
Moving into the library itself
The odors of dust and paper waft through the air
The smells are mostly clean
A fragrance of a strong wood oil
On the freshly cleaned shelves
A familiar scent of old paper hits
Scents that only a library can produce
The building smells of knowledge and academia
The building smells black and white

New Hobby for Fall

I have decided to take Drawing 1 during the fall semester for my pleasure. Drawing is something I have always had problems with, even something as simple as a sketch of a ceramic piece. I hope to be able to potentially take figure drawing in the spring. The human body has always been something that has fascinated me in the interpreted mediums (drawing, painting) and I would like to be able to attempt to capture the human body that way with at least a little bit of competence.
Because of this course decision, I will be enrolled in two studio courses for the fall semester. I know I can handle them without a problem, I just am starting to wonder about the sanity of some of my academic decisions (some UNCC Art students believe it is an evil thing to take more than one studio at a time).
To make things a little more fun for everyone to keep track of, I have courses at 3 schools during the fall. I will have an advanced programming course at CPCC, Drawing will be at Gaston, and something related to my degree will be at UNCC. I suspect it will be a fun and productive semester.

Summer 2007 Semester is closed.

I have finished my final assignments and the Summer 2007 semester is now finished for me. I now find myself trying to figure out what I will do with my time now that I am not constantly thinking of the next assignment due.
I think my plans for the remainder of the summer include teaching myself to draw (at least partially), doing more ceramic work, and also attempting some creative writing exercises for personal pleasure, as well as the pleasure of others.
Maybe I will just take some time to workout and also get some sun, enjoy some swimming and perhaps do something to burn off all of the sexual energy I have built up over the past few weeks.

Epigraph Poem

Assignment:
Write a poem using one of the following quotes as an epigraph at the start of the poem:
“The World is Change; life is opinion” – Democritus
“Worlds are altered rather than destroyed”- Democritus
“What we call the beginning is often the end”-T. S. Eliot
“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off”-St. Thomas Aquinas
“Dreams pass into the reality of fiction“-Anais Nin
“Hope is a waking dream”-Aristotle
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away”-Kurt Cobain
Response:
[June 24, 2007]
The World is Change; life is opinion
Each life brought into the world anew
Sees the world with a different view
Every tyrant and evangelist has his minion
Nothing is ever the same
With technical enhancement
Or enemy army’s advancement
This world is never the same ole game
Something as constant as the moon and stars
Not as fixed as we may think
Every object in the universe has a link
Even the missing water on Mars
Every life observes this change
Being humans as we are
We never find this method completely bizarre
The impact of each life has a variable range
Once there was fire
And then there was the electric oven
People of Salem feared the wrath of the coven
They felt no impact of the fall of the British empire
Modern children seem to stray from the tutor
Business people have no longer a need for books
There are new inventions that impact even the cooks
The most shocking invention of them all, the computer
Change happens all around
Life happens in a blink
Often recorded with ink
There have been attempts made with sound
Written word is by far our friend
In our archaeological findings
Ancient languages we have been unwinding
Without the linguists, there would be nothing of the past to mend
As things come together
The world has great movement
Sometimes with, sometimes without, improvement
The common link of opinion and change, is the weather

Complex Activity

Assignment:
Write a conversation between two people who know each other very well. Have them involved in a complex activity, but they should not talk about the activity. Show how two people might think they know each other but really don’t and at times don’t listen to one another.
Response:
Before reading this piece:
[Please see DT post “Relationship via the Kitchen”] OR
[Please see GITI Education Item # 0922 and its associated Doc item] OR
[Please see Moodle Post: Story Exercise (due by July 10) » Story Exercise by me]

     “No Eric, I’ve never considered adding meatballs to my sauce, I thought you liked it the way it is” Jon answered with a somewhat flat tone. Eric’s face became still and confused as he contemplated how to better explain himself to his brother. “No, thats not what I mean, your sauce is great, I just think that something spicy could highlight the sauce a little more” he finally managed to blurt out in a single breath.

     “Well… if you think so, then we should make some, but you will have to show me how, I’ve never done it” Jon stated as his face lightened up some and he reached into the refrigerator to get some meat to hand to his brother. Eric felt bad that he had made his brother feel insulted because of his suggestion. He decided to not say anymore about the sauce until dinner was ready. Eric took the meat from his brother, peeled back the plastic from the two pound lump of cold pale red beef and then asked Jon for a bowl to mix in.

     Jon picked one of his favorite stoneware mixing bowls for his brother to use. The bowl was about twelve inches in diameter and about eight inches deep, with a white and blue glaze surface that reflected the glow of the gas range. Eric dumped the meat into the bowl on the counter-top. The silence bothered Eric, even though it seemed to not phase Jon. Eric resolved the silence by starting a conversation with Jon, “How did you learn to make your sauce?” Jon seemed a little agitated by the question, feeling as though it were just there to fill the air, but answered anyway “Oh, I sort of made it up after cooking a lot with grandma years ago. We used to make something similar for pizza. I liked the base flavor a lot, so I added my own adjustments to it.” Eric seemed genuinely interested in the topic, and continued it “thats interesting, did you and grandma cook a lot together before I was born?” Eric broke up the meat and added spices. He also went rummaging to the cabinets looking for breadcrumbs, making a lot of noise. Once he located the breadcrumbs he opened the can and pointed to the eggs in a basket near Jon. Jon brought over two eggs while answering Eric’s latest question. “We did cook a lot, but mostly desserts. Grandma loved chocolate.”

     Jon cracked the eggs into the bowl over the meat. Eric tried to control his feelings about Jon doing that, but couldn’t stop himself “Jon, not the whole eggs, just the whites! I use the yolks for breading the balls only!” Jon turned bright red, he had been cooking all his life and had never heard of separating eggs for anything except cakes. Jon immediately began an apology for his culinary error “I’m sorry bro, I didn’t know”. Eric analyzed his brother’s embarrassed face, and then boldly dove at the bowl with both hands and quickly removed the unbroken yolks from the rest of the albumen membrane, with one yolk in each hand. He laughed and commanded to his brother, “Get me a bowl for the yolks.”