[Drawing] “Venus entering her bath” sketch

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The 2-week study break that ended on Mon didn’t last long enough. As always, doing nothing feels tremendously good. Which means I had a very happy, sloth-like first week after I completed my Audio & Drawing deadlines.

The second week? I was trying desperately cling on to the sloth-skin that was shedding me and pushing me back to the reality of 6 more projects waiting. Did it work? Maybe.It did push rather hard. But for most of the time I was happy to play the Ostrich-in-the-sand that week.

Now, coming back to that drawing deadline…

Drawing always fills me with ambivalent feelings. On one hand, it frustrates me that I’m not a natural drawer, which leads to me struggling through my assignments; on the other hand, if I didn’t struggle that much, I wouldn’t be so relieved and proud of myself after I complete each drawing assignment. Thus, I’m still working out whether I like drawing or not.

I definitely do like looking at drawings though. Looking at the work of talented drawers consumes me with envy sometimes. The good part is that after that green-suffused stint is over, I usually feel the need to strive harder. Which I do. (At least until the next season of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER comes along.)

So. We were given a foreshortening drawing assignment about month or so ago. By any fine-art student’s standard, it’s probably a simple task. We didn’t have to draw from an actual sculpture/painting, we were allowed to copy from a photograph. I guess the teachers realised there was a ceiling to the amount of progress our drawing skills could make, since we only had 1 month to learn all the drawing basics.

I chose my sculpture from the Louvre collection – there’s a book on them in NLB. It’s a marble statue by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain (French, 1710–1795), his most famous work in fact. Called “Venus entering her bath”, or sometimes just “Bather (La Baigneuse), it was presented to Madame du Barry by Louis XV in 1772 for her Château de Louveciennes.

It’s a lovely piece which I wish I could do more justice to, particularly around her torso area (okay, and I admit, I think I gave her too small a foot..) but I think I tried my hardest and that’s all that matters to me in the end when I try to sleep at night. I swear when I don’t, I just end up staying up all night thinking what I should have done better. It’s a pain and hurdling sheep don’t work. Despite the long hours, I did start enjoying myself a little – perhaps after I’d listen to the same CD 7 times over and was in a trance – and am thinking I might just try doing it again. For another sculpture or drawing. I’m really looking forward to the day when I can do this better and in half the time. Like cooking instant noodles.

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Tags: assignment, christophe-gabriel allegrain, drawing, homework, sculpture, sketch, venus entering her bath