Bittersweet

Bittersweet

This is a drawing that I did as a part of my final series for Introductory Drawing II this past semester. It depicts an image of a photograph that I took at the beginning of my senior year on Southern’s campus. It was a rainy day as I was walking back to my house, and the sky looked so pretty. I remember thinking how nice it felt to finally be a senior. I had worked so hard to get to a place where I finally felt confident in who I was.
When campus closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was most upset about having to complete my drawing class online. How would it be possible to complete a course like this at home, given that our next unit was drawing live nude models? Not only did I not want to transition to online learning, but it also wasn’t what I had signed up for at the beginning of the semester. But this wasn’t something that anyone wanted to happen. There was no other choice for students and professors but to adapt to the circumstances and so for the remaining of the semester online, my professor assigned us a final series topic - “Inside vs. Outside” which we had to complete 6 drawings for.
I really appreciated having this series to work on during quarantine and being at home. It was so hard to complete school work at times but this project kept me engaged and excited despite the grim circumstances. Art in general is meditative to me, so being able to express my emotions as they related to the present moment was very helpful in getting me through to the end of the school year. It was not how I wanted or ever thought I would conclude my college career, but I forced myself to stay positive. So many other people in the world were struggling way more than I was so I tried to take things rather in stride.

lauren beth

2020-05-11

No

Charcoal pencil and color pastels