Sienna Tohar - week 9- Learning Not to Rely on an Enlarger

     I don’t want to write this just to complain, but I think we’ve all had our frustrations with the school senior year by now (and I also don’t really have much to write about this week). 

So, this is my second official year of taking AP art and the process of  making a painting for the class hasn’t really bothered me up until now (since the start of this school year). Something I find pretty frustrating is that I don’t get to use the enlarger at school that I would usually use to outline all my paintings before I get to paint them, and I’m trying to not let that discourage me when planning out base sketches on my canvases. Once, during sophomore year, I had to make one of my early portfolio paintings without using an enlarger, and it was not fun! Something about it just didn't feel right, but at the same time, I just didn't want to have to rely on using an enlarger to get down a preliminary sketch (and waste time waiting so that I could use one). I know that when dealing with art and drawing, it’s not ideal to be “dependent” on an enlarger to get down the exact lining of a reference photo, but I’ll admit, it sure makes getting the job done easier and quicker. 

I’m not really sure why, but drawing bigger just feels so weird. I draw on my own time when I can, mostly with sketch pads or mixed media pads (that I would say are pretty standard sized) but it’s so different when dealing with an 18 x 24 canvas. Perhaps it’s because I can’t really draw much detail on them, I have to freehand them, or the pencil lead gets everywhere (and gets messy almost immediately for me), but sometimes I feel like I quickly get the base sketch phase done and out of the way, and other times it could take forever because I just can’t feel satisfied with the outline! 

One good thing I’m getting out of not using an enlarger, though, is that I'm learning to be more independent with those base sketches. I’ve painted with acrylic paint at home just for fun before, but usually, whenever I do, the canvases are still pretty small when compared to the ones I work with for school. And painting a small face feels so different than painting a large one! I got some practice over the summer with free-handing those larger canvases and hope that with time I can trust myself more when getting down base sketches from simply looking at reference photos from my phone or laptop. I went to school to use an enlarger there once this year, and waiting for the day I could go do that made me so behind on the piece!! I had to finish later than the due date and I hated having to depend on going to school just so I could get a basic outline down (even coordinating a time that I was able to go to school in between classes and clubs was stressful since the amount of time something will take or the amount of time you’ll have to wait for someone else is unpredictable. The only time it's really convenient is when I'm picking up more canvases and have a lot of free time). I’m hoping that I’ll feel way more secure about free-handing those large preliminary sketches by the end of the school year! I feel that with every painting this year, the experience is helping!

Are you still schooling from home? How were your adjustments when you first started? Did virtual school help you become more independent or did it mess with your focus? Until next time!