Katie Heckman- Thoughts on Drawing

Ever since I was little I have had a fascination with art.  Though I excelled in athletics, during my free time I would always find myself doing crafts.  Every birthday I was gifted the latest art set or some interesting art supplies that my family came across and art class had always been my favorite subject in school.  In high school I particularly enjoyed painting.  Sophomore year I enrolled in my first painting class and learned the basic techniques of oil painting.  Over the next two years I always included a painting class in my schedule and I grew immensely as a painter.  My teacher saw how much I enjoyed painting and how much I excelled in art that upon graduating she insisted that I pursue further education in art and possibly consider it as a major, but as I was already to committed to Duke for basketball, I didn't give this recommendation much thought.  

I have greatly regretted this during my time at Duke.  I have missed having art classes in my life.  Occasionally a friend and I would paint canvases for wall decorations, but besides these random evenings I have been disconnected from the art.  This lack of art in my life made me extremely excited for the Drawing 199 class.  Though I have never taken a class that specifically focused on drawing I was ready to have designated time for art back in my life.  

Though painting and drawing are similar, I was very intimidated the first day in class as we were instructed to draw the collection of objects in front of us.  Never before had I drawn or painted directly from observation before and I wasn't sure I would enjoy it or excel at it, but I believe I have.  I quickly began to look forward to class and our homework assignments.  My confidence in my abilities as drawers have grown greatly and I believe that is due to both this class and my background in painting.  This class taught me the fundamentals in drawing, but I think my painting background has allowed me to excel in the shading of my images to make them as realistic as possible.

I have greatly enjoyed this class and am sad to see it ending, but I know that I will continue with drawing as it has grown from homework to a hobby.  I know that have skills have grown a lot this semester, but I have a lot that can still be improved upon.  This class has rekindled my relationship with art and I am not going to let it go again.