Pistachio Nut Waiting at a Bus Shelter

Artist: Dave

One of my classmates drew this picture. I remember him taking a lengthy amount of time drawing the brick wall; he wanted to get it right. He then drew the nut and he was done. There really isn’t much I can say about this drawing, after all it is just a pistachio nut waiting at a bus shelter, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of my favourites.

Fly N6!

Artist: Cherry

Well it’s finally over. That’s 44 months of being a physics undergraduate student, 20 months of donning, and 16 months of having a growing pastel wall. The process of taking down the pastel drawings was emotional and time consuming, but it was a gentle way of closing things up. The pastel drawings now continue to live in plastic sleeves which have been assembled in a binder. I consider it to be one of my greatest possessions.

It was when I was taking down this picture, drawn by one of my residents, that I stopped for a moment and thought back to the last 8 months. This picture symbolizes all the ups and downs my residents and I had in North 6, and how wonderfully worthwhile it was to be their Don. Unfortunately this is a pastel drawing that I can’t explain any further than that. It’s a drawing I love for what it reminds me of.

The Exam Wall

Artist: Gaven

If you’ve ever been a student before, you’ve most likely faced the exam wall. It’s the wall that separates you from the freedom from work, and keeps you in the world of studying and report writing.

When I drew this picture at the end of 3rd year, I was facing a challenging set of exams, and was looking forward to a very prosperous summer. This was to be the most severe exam wall that I was going to feel in my entire undergraduate career.

My last exam was Quantum Physics 3, one of the hardest courses I’ve ever taken, and when I left the exam, I was in pure happiness. I remember rollerblading/dancing home, excited for my summer working in a physics lab, and hanging out with friends.

This is in stark contrast to the exam wall which I easily pushed over this past term. My courses were relatively easy, and my summer is still undecided. I actually have one project still to finish, so you could say that I’m currently pulling myself through a bog of report writing across to a plain of satisfaction (but I haven’t drawn a picture of that yet).

It’s Time for Me

Artist: Chantal

Whenever I draw pastel drawings with a group of people, I always hope that everyone will present their drawings and explain the meaning of what they’ve drawn. I actually won’t put a drawing on my wall if I don’t understand it, but that’s just one of the hiccups of my personality.

So when Chantal drew this picture, I was obviously expecting to hear an interesting explanation. Clearly someone is being pushed off of a pedestal, but it’s unclear who the two characters are. She told me that it was her pushing off no one in particular, though who it was didn’t matter, the message was clear.

This got me thinking; do I put people on pedestals? You need only look as far as my other blog to see just a few of my friends who I have done this to – the ones that I have written posts about (I’d like to point out that these people aren’t the only ones that are on pedestals in my life. For instance, Mike A. is the most trusted friend I have, and I have yet to write a much overdue post about him).

So the obvious question arises; is putting people on pedestals a bad thing? Generally I don’t believe this to be the case, but I have been disappointed with some of the people in my life that I have put up there. I think most of us can feel some degree of sympathy with this drawing.

Different Suns

Artist: Donkers

My 3rd year of university saw the birth and development of my pastel wall. My 4th year turned out to be a barren tundra in comparison. I think I only did one pastel drawing all year, though it’s probably my favourite one I’ve ever drawn. When I restarted the wall after 4th year, I didn’t really think I missed all that much in the mean time. It wasn’t until Donkers came over to my place about a month ago that I realized how much I had missed out on.

I first met Donkers when I found out that I would be Donning with her in CLV. We decided to try to hang out with each other some day during the summer before we started to live together, and that day came right after I gave my self food poisoning. So, as I’ve started all of my great friendships, my first real time with Donkers involved me saying something along the lines of ‘just to let you know, I might need to rush to the bathroom at some point as I gave myself food poisoning last night.’

When we did live together, we didn’t spend that much time with each other. I enjoyed when I had a story to share with her, and it was great to share meals with one another, but we each had busy personal lives. After CLV, I missed living with her, and I started worrying that I also missed out on getting to know Donkers better.

Since then I’ve tried to continue building my relationship with her, and this picture is just one example of what I was missing out on. I was shocked to learn that I lived with Donkers and never knew that she could draw such beautiful pastel pictures. Unfortunately, the digital photo doesn’t do the picture justice, so stop by and check it out sometime if you’re in the area.

You Suddenly Realize that you Need to see a Psychiatrist

Artist: Gaven

As I mentioned in my previous post, pastel drawings were originally just a way to hang out with my ex girlfriend in a comfortable manor. Of course, if you ask two people to draw pastel drawings for an extended period of time, they will eventually try to find a way to make the activity more interesting.

This picture is an example of one of those attempts to find something more interesting to do. The game was simple; a number of titles were written on pieces of paper, the pieces were put into a hat, and then each artist drew out one title randomly. I drew “You suddenly realize that you need to see a psychiatrist,” and thus I drew the above picture.

As a small aside, I would like to point out that the scene is actually taking place in one of the engineering buildings here on campus. If you recognize the colourful floor, then you most likely know which building I’m talking about.

Jane Jane Jane Kathryn Jane

Artist: Kathryn

Something which I don’t think everyone knows is that Kathryn, my roommate from 3rd year, was the person who started the pastel wall which has since continued its existence on my walls. I don’t remember why, but one day Kathryn decided to buy a pack of pastels to draw some pictures with. At first I didn’t really think anything of it. It wasn’t until I was rollerblading through the park one night, trying to think of something I could do with my then recent ex girlfriend, that I thought about pastel drawings again.

It didn’t take long before I did the drawings not as an activity to share with others, but as a means to express my feelings about a given subject.

This pastel picture was one of Kathryn’s firsts, and still one of the most popular drawings on my wall. Kathryn told me that it depicts how she remembers she was in high school: trying to be like everyone else, masking over the individual she was.