Less Than Perfect

It's hard to show off stuff I haven't finished, or worse, stuff I plain don't like. But part of being an artist is making things that don't work--there is still value in the process and the outcome.

In drawing class these last couple weeks, we've been working with pen and ink. I actually love this medium, but our final pen & ink project was tough! We had to create a utopia or dystopia within the silhouette of a living thing. You can't see mine very well because I ran out of time before I could get the more contrasting darker colors in. Here's what I turned in: a young woman's head filled with a "city" of bookshelves. My utopia: education, community, clean air and water, no hunger, health. Click on it for a closer view.

Here you can see it up on the wall with some other folks' final pieces during critique, along with my two favorites, below.

by Anders Carlson

by Sophie Peterson

Here is another unfinished piece of mine, now that we've moved on to pastels! Even though it's not finished, I like it. Especially the cup!