Two Kinds of Value

Something really neat about college, is that I'm finally pushing myself to go farther in my passion.

Like, instead of getting away with the bare minimum in my art classes because I have some skill in what I do, I'm forcing myself to quit being a lazy bum and actually improve. It takes a lot of dedication to take a "pretty good" drawing and turn it into a "really great" drawing, because instead of seeing improvements in leaps and bounds, "really great" drawings become so through small details and minor adjustments. Sometimes that process is incredibly rewarding, and other times it feels like getting your teeth pulled. It just depends on the day, I guess.

This piece took about five hours of actual work (and maybe an hour or two of Kelsey dillydallying) to complete. We started the piece with a medium grey charcoal ground, and then we had to erase away/smudge in the lighter and darker values. Out of all the objects, the egg was probably the most challenging. Who knew that an egg would be harder to draw than some ornate mug-cup-thing?

I really loved the challenge of molding these shapes out of the values rendered on a flat surface. 10/10 to whomever decided this was a project worth doing, because I definitely agree!

In other artsy fartsy news, I've been trying to continue to grow in my personal art as well.

This piece was focused on my recent meditations. 

"Plant the seeds of gratitude and let them grow."

Before college, I'd never once thought about meditating. It didn't really appeal to me and I didn't really understand it. Clearing your mind? utter nonsense. 

But since being here, and making friends with meditators of all ages, I've begun to not only understand the value of meditation, but to partake in it myself. Meditation isn't about having a blank mind. It's about filling it to the brim, letting it overflow with all the positive things in your life. It's about letting the positive feelings and thoughts and people in your life consume you and become a part of you. It's about creating a deeper understanding of what you want in life and what you're grateful for. It's about creating peace for yourself.

There is nothing quite as selfish and yet selfless as meditation. It creates a better you, who can then create a better world. Even five minutes of meditating relieves stress, halts arguments, calms nerves--need I say more?

So this piece is about the growth I feel when I fill myself with gratitude. I feel like I'm growing as a person, and that's pretty neat! Not to mention, I get to express this feeling with my best buddy: art.

All in all, things have been pretty swell lately, to say the least. Here soon I'll make sure to write a post about my recent portfolio review in Basic Drawing (let's just say it went fabulously!) so you can check out the portfolio I've been building for the past two months! 

--Kelsey