Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I love Wednesdays!

Wednesdays may be my new favorite day of the week.  The classes are easy for me so it feels like a break from the stress of the normal routine.  In the morning I have sewing.  We are covering the basics and it is almost identical in curriculum to the Iowa State class I took.  I'm getting more practice on the industrial machines and my samples are looking good.

Then I get a three hour break which almost feels like vacation!  I am able to get daytime errands done, call businesses that are only open 9-5, and relax for a long lunch.  Not today though... we have an assignment due on Friday that we were given on Tuesday so several of us booked it to Mood for sampling!  Mood is open limited hours in the evenings so this was our best chance.  I realized it was my first trip to Mood.  I thought I stopped in briefly last year when I visited NY but it was another store.  Then I remember how I felt overwhelmed at some of the other fabric stores so I didn't even attempt Mood!



Greeting us at the door is Swatch - Mood's mascot.  He has a calming effect.  :)


The next thing you see is a sample draped fabric by one of the talented employees.  I can't wait until we get to this level of draping!  The dress looks sewn, but it's simply pinned in such an impeccable way that the pins look decorative and the dress is stunning.

It's interesting how differently we all approach our assignments.  My friend Christine had inspiration and was collecting as many samples that caught her eye as possible.  Another friend Angela was snipping and was already forming a color scheme that looked like her style.  I struggled at first, not knowing where to begin, partly because I prefer higher quality fabrics so I kept veering towards silks but the assignment calls for cotton and knits only.  Bummer.  I really need to learn to use those creatively too!  I didn't have any ideas for the style of the clothes yet, so my samples still need to be edited in a big way.  But I left feeling like I had a lot of choices to work with.

In the afternoons on Wednesdays, Life Drawing is my stress-relief.  Drawing what's in front of me comes easily versus the pressure of coming up with something creative and original.  I love sitting and drawing the nude models and learning more about how the human body is composed.  Everyone is unique, yet there are similarities between any size of person.  I still want to work on faces and everyone in the class has to practice hands and feet because our instructor said those are the most detailed part of the body and the hardest to capture.  He is very right.  I'm seeing improvements already just practicing once a week.

Here are some samples of my sketches.  These are 20 minute poses with a live model and we are mainly focusing on the body proportions and the outline of the person.



Sorry it's so light - the newsprint is hard to photograph in my dark room.





I really liked this model.  They are all quirky (okay, some are straight up strange) but I think you might have to be to get paid to stand naked in front of 25 people for the sake of art.  At one point during a break, she was back in her dress but chose to lay on the small stage at the front of the room for a little catnap.  Hmmm.





Her poses weren't the most interesting, but that meant she was actually able to stay more still.  Her face turned out pretty well - I'm trying to work on my faces.  It's hard to capture personality and expression in a small sketch.


Wonderful Wednesday.  Back to full steam ahead tomorrow.









1 comment:

  1. I am so glad to see that pin draped photo from Mood. I regretted not asking to take that shot at our visit. I also missed the opportunity to take a picture of one of the Fashion Stars in the sidewalk because we must have returned on the other side of the street. Maybe you can get one for me some time.
    Mom

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