Walker

Chuck Close, Big Self-Portrait
1967-1968
Acrylic on canvas
Walker Art Center, Art center acquisition fund, 1969
-I'm amazed that this is a painting. I draw a lot of photo-realism, but I find that painting is way more challenging when it comes to this type of detail. The size of the piece helps, but this means you need to be able to view the piece from a good distance to see the realism effect. I'm glad the painting was hung up high and there were binoculars available so it could be seen from both views. Still, I wish I could have gotten up close to see the brush strokes and the way the paint sits on the canvas.
-I find it interesting that in this self-portrait the artist looks ragged. His hair is messy, he doesn't have a shirt on, and he has a half lit cigarette-but in his mouth. It's as if he just woke up. I would expect someone to try to look attractive in a self-portrait to help promote the piece, but that is probably why he portrayed himself in such a unexpectedly realistic way. His non-commercial and almost indisposed manner crates an unusually striking image. I believe that the attention to detail and the photo-realistic quality is what makes this piece so popular. I think that the artwork that shows the artists skill in a way that can't be easily recreated is a key part in producing outstanding art.

Spine and Ribs 30 Min

I started with the egg shape of the ribs. I had to draw the bottom of the egg to correctly show this foreshortened view of the model. I then marked a few contour lines to keep my drawing in porportion. I used cross-contour to give volume to the body of the figure. I also used the cross-contour lines to show the outline of the model. I drew very lightly so you can not see all the detail of the drawing in this photo. There are a lot of cross-contour lines that enhance the planar structure of the drawing. Some of these lines even represent areas of the body that are not visible in real life from this view. These qualities give a 3D effect to the drawing. The point of view I had of the model made this drawing very challenging.

Shell Information & Picture

Common Name: Striped Fox Horse Conch

Latin Name: Pleuroploca Trapezium

From the family Strombidae, class Gastropoda, subclass Prosobranchia. Shell is trianular in shape with a wide lip (ours is cut off). Found in Indo-Pacific shallow waters (the Phillipines). Conch meat is harvested and consumed by people in the Caribbean countries. It is harvested by immediatly freezing the catch for up to 3 days. It is then placed in luke warm water to help defrost. During this process, a hole is drilled in the 3rd loop from the lip to help release suction and pull the meat out in one peice. This animal feeds on fine plant matter.

Reflection

I found learning about the spine and surrounding bone structures really helped me when drawing the model. Starting with the spine in my drawings allowed me to section off major parts of the body and create more proportionately accurate figures. I used the bottom of the ribs, the clavicle, and the top of the hip bone to keep proportion as well as give volume to my figures. I am excited to learn some major muscles to further enhance my drawings with a feeling of increased tone and body. I think that learning the muscles in the arms and legs will help me draw those features with more realism.

Prismacolor

This is a prismacolor pencil drawing of a photo I took. I took the photo of three marbles on a mirror behind the school I was attending. You can see the silhouette of the building along the bottom edge of the marbles. I used a compass to make the circles and the rest is freehand. It took about 6 hours to complete because of all the color layering and background space. I won first prize and $200 for this drawing at a art show in Madison. This image was taken on my phone.

Blind Contour

I started at the head, worked my way to the feet, and went back to the head. Thus, there are two sets of everything. I skipped out on drawing the knees a second time without thinking about it and they turned out to be some what in proportion. Oh and the best part is that I was looking at a naked woman but I ended up drawing an old man.