Hoppo Bumpo (n): A children's game. Played by folding one's arms and hopping on one leg. Aim is to bump opponents, so that they lose their balance. Last person standing wins.


January 30, 2010

Once upon a time



Over the last few days, I've been doing a bit of a clean-up around the house. When I say cleaning-up, I mean in the sense reminiscing. That's the sort of tidying where one looks at lots of things, says ahhh .... I remember ... those were the days and puts everything back in the very same spot. Faux cleaning.

So far, I've cleaned up my childhood swap card collection, a large pile of fabric, my old university assignments and some baby clothes.

Now I have moved on to my high school artwork.



I studied art until the end of high school - there was a little bit of art history and lots of practical work. My finals involved submitting a folio for assessment. I chose to sketch and - disappointingly, but not surprisingly - the mark was quite ordinary.



Perhaps the examiners were thinking Art in the sense creativity and individuality, while I was thinking Art in the sense whew-that-was-a-narrow-escape-from-the-hard-work-of-physics. My kind of art was never going to set the world on fire.



But as I examine my folio pieces now, I do feel a bit wistful. I wish I still possessed some of the drawing skills I had back then. Its been a long time.



Looking at each piece is a little like looking a holiday photograph: I clearly remember being there; it was a happy time; but I might never make it back to such a faraway place.



But maybe ... with some hard work? (When I say hard work, I do mean in the sense sitting-on-the-couch-and-thinking-about-it.)

22 comments:

  1. Ordinary marks"

    These works are AMAZING. I LOVE the lady, candle and first bird. The 'artist' had no idea....

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  2. Those are really nice :D Once you start up again, its like riding a bike. you never really forget how

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  3. Wow! I'm seriously impressed. I can't draw to save myself. Really, Argy and Bargy could draw better than me!

    Don't care how rusty you are, you are bound to be able to produce good stuff again.

    Love the biscuits! And the birdies. Wow. Did I say that already?

    Cheers,
    AJ

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  4. Don't be so hard on yourself! I think your artwork is beautiful and you could "set the world on fire" someday. You really should start sketching again with all your natural talent.

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  5. Wow! I'm impressed. Really May be??? You have to start again and go, go, go!

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  6. These sketches are beautiful, I feel the same way when I look at my old sketch books, and they aren't anywhere close to this standard. Took up a pencil last week, results were ordinary but still fun. Hope you get back into it.

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  7. I think you're to hard on yourself. These are gorgeous not ordinary at all. And if you want to I would definitely go back to it. You are very talented.

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  8. Can't draw, MY ASS!!! that's all I have to say tsk tsk tsk

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  9. Oh Liesl, those are such beautiful drawings! I bet you haven't lost the talent at all, you should pick up some pencils and paper and see what happens.

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  10. I would love to be able to draw like that! And surely drawing is a skill that comes back - not that I'd know, never having been able to draw much, but I figure it must be like knitting: Feels (and looks) a bit weird at first but before you know it you're back at it like a pro!

    I can't wait to see where this leads....

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  11. Oh you were very good. Do you still draw?? Love Posie

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  12. I can't believe that you didn't recieve high marks for art. Your skills are completely amazing, and I'm very proud to have one of your amazing works in my house.

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  13. I have some of my high school sketches on my inspiration wall (wondering how the heck I ever used to sketch like that cos I couldn't do it now!) You would have hated my art teacher. He didn't like you to recreate what you saw. It had to be an interpretation. Which I found quite biased and limiting really- as my first project was a portrait.
    Lovely, lovely sketches. Pick up the pencil and play. You might inspire me to do the same.

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  14. Your work is beautiful. The ability to sketch and shade with a pencil and to capture objects so truly is quite rare. It's so silly that in high-school art people are expected to be all original and amazing without having first laid a foundation of technique! (all the great masters did still lifes, protraiture etc before breaking the rules).
    Are you going to take a class? Strikes me you would probably be most motivated and inspired in that setting...

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  15. They are gorgeous....they put my scribbles of deformed dogs and stick figures that my daughter demands I draw to shame! Just for a laugh I might post some of them tonight...they are truly tragic.

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  16. When I say you make me laugh, I mean you make me laugh A LOT!.

    I giggled and nodded at your cleaning Liesl. While not productive, that type of cleaning is good for the soul. And I am sure that drawing is just like riding a bike. You might be a bit wobbly at the start, but within no time, you'll be riding (aka drawing) like old times!

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  17. GOOD GOD! Go and get a pencil and pad of line paper right now! Do you hear me! I'm not going to say it again. What are you waiting for? GO!

    Nikki is right, you may start off a little rusty, but you'll soon get those drawing muscles back in shape again. You'll be surprised how quickly it returns. Try one tiny thing a day, copy something out of a magazine or something, just to get you going again. And don't agonise over it, just do a little sketch, put it away and move on, don't look at it too much, at this stage it's about getting back in shape, not the success of the outcome. That will take 2 months! (my guess, from m experience).

    Anyway, GO!

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  18. I meant to say "pad of nice paper", don't ask me how I mistyped that?!!

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  19. The education system has a lot to answer for. Your artwork is stunning, and it's obvious to me that you have a lot of talent.

    I was given extremely average marks for art in year eight and pretty much gave it up then. It took me 20 years to come back to it.

    I agree with flossy-p. Get yourself back into the habit. It's obviously calling to you.

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  20. From someone with no artistic abiltiy I am truly blown away by how lovely these are

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  21. *Pfft* Liesl those sketches are wonderful, you totally should pick that sketch pad and pencil up again.

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  22. They are amazing drawings! You should definitely frame them. And get back to drawing...

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