Catching My Breath

So it seems like just yesterday that I began my time here at Purdue. And yet, here I am, two weeks away from cuddling up with my dog at home and eating wayyy too much holiday candy.

I know I've been a pretty terrible blogger lately, but if assignments were water, I would've drowned a LONG time ago! So here I am, hoping you forgive me, as we take a brief look at some of my favorite projects from recently. I'll make sure to share my final portfolios for Drawing and Design with you (after, of course, I share them with my TA's and get fantastic grades on them!)

So what inspired Kelsey to make this incredibly satisfying hipster shirt?

Well, it all started with a pattern project in design. For the assignment, we were required to make three patterns:

-Non-repeating, Non-representational

-Repeating Non-representational

-Repeating Representational

So, as you can imagine, I decided to make a pattern out of succulents I'd drawn for the Repeating Representational pattern. And it turned out just like this:

Needless to say, I fell in love with it. Honestly I'd make these into curtains.. and aprons... and basically any other item that could possible be made out of fabric. I'm just a sucker for cute lil cacti.

I also have included my Non-repeating, Non-representational pattern. Inspired by a woven Native American rug I saw, I created this pattern out of two different 1.75' x 1.75' squares that I then randomly placed together into a 7' x 7' square mat. I think this guy turned out pretty cool too, considering I had to cut out each separate square and glue them on at random... My craftsmanship wasn't as shoddy as I'd feared it would be!

Here we have a subtractive self-portrait. The paper was covered with a rather thick layer of charcoal, and then the image was erased away over the course of several class periods. Because I'm in an introductory drawing class, my drawing caused a bit of an uproar. My entire AP portfolio in high school was made of portraits, so I had more experience with portraits than many of the other students. But that didn't stop me from pushing myself and trying to do even better. 

My first try had stunningly accurate features... but the face wasn't mine. The eyes were my eyes, the nose was my nose, the mouth was my mouth... but altogether, it wasn't my face... After much studying, I realized I'd shortened my forehead and raised my eyes way too high... So, the largest picture (above) is the final piece, after I redid my facial structure... Still not perfect, but I was pretty satisfied at the new skills this project taught me!

Here was an additive still-life, done on white paper and created with graphite. As you can see, deeper values make all the difference!

Next we did a still-life completely through cross-hatching. The subject matter was a rather strange combination of Halloween masks and Thanksgiving cornucopias, but for my very first cross-hatching, I think it turned out rather swell!

And, last but not least, I painted a sweet card for one of my friends last night... I certainly am a sucker for animal cards!

In other news, I'm thinking about starting an etsy shop (I know, I know, I say that and nothing ever gets done) for real this time! There was so much interest in my cactus shirt, and I'd love to spread some joyous t-shirts that don't succ(ulent)! Feel free to leave any suggestions or ideas in the comments. Until next time!

--Kelsey