One recent idea of a blog that came to mind was about my experience in stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new. Back in the fall of '09, I received a course catalog in the
mail from the Sonora Desert Museum which was hosting ART classes through the Art Institute of Tucson. I've always wanted to make artwork to decorate our house....sure Pottery Barn, Pier I, Home Goods have some lovely pieces, but it is all 'cookie-cutter' and I want to make
something special. In my mind's eye I've come up with really neat pieces of work, and I've also
run across various pieces I'd love to copy that I've seen in magazines, a restaurant here or a coffee place there....but, I know that once the idea leaves my mind and transfers to my hands, it would probably become a wreck and certainly nothing like originally envisioned.
So, I thought, "I'll take an art class and see if this is something I could pull off!". And since Christmas was about a month and a half away, I thought this would be a great gift for someone, anyone, in my family to give me...the registration fee for an art class! Thus, the 'wish list' went
out and on it was 'money for art class'....I got it in, in a way, not directly, but there was some money at Christmas so the class was paid.
I wanted to learn how to use watercolors....still do....but in order to take that class through this Art Institute school, you must take 2 prerequisite classes with them. I forget the second one, but the first one is Pencil I....learning how to draw with pencils, special artsy, graphite pencils.
Ok, still something I've never learned to do and I guess since it is the 'gateway class', this will
let me know early enough if I should plow ahead after this class to reach the watercolor.
The bonus to this class is the drive to and fro the Desert Museum, at least once I get on Gates Pass Road..not through town..it is so breathtaking to drive through the park, with my favorite
part driving over Gates Pass...a very steep hill that breaks out with a vista view for miles. The other part of the bonus is the walk to and fro class...walking to class through the museum park at 8:30 a.m. is so relaxing, hearing the hummingbirds carrying on their morning business in the hummingbird house along with other delightful morning festivities in the park!
So, the class. I am the youngest in the class with probably 90% being retired persons. And about 90% of the class has some experience in art, like, art major, worked in engineering, drawing for 20+ years, etc......so why are they in the class? Anyway, me and one other 'science
geek' are taking this class and we are the least experienced, but she has one thing on me and that is the time to do the homework as she is part of the 90% retired population.
I enjoy our teacher, Susan Fisher, and I appreciate her teaching style. She is very encouraging,
even for the two of us novices. Primarily this class is to teach basic skills in pencil drawing that we can take away and practice on our own. Again, there's that time thing...don't have much of it
to sit around and draw. I guess I have to get over the guilt of trying to learn a new skill :)
The only aspect of the class I don't really like is that we have to display our art homework...yikes. Yes, we've had to do it twice (it is a 5-class course) and the first time we had to present, well let's just say I did my homework at the last minute, well the day before, but I was definitely pushed for time and managed to multi-task by watching a new tv show I found on netflix that I think is a little gem called "Monarch on the Glenn"...a little Scottish diddy that is quite fun to watch.....so I guess the distraction of tv viewing also took away from the quality of my drawing.
Thus, upon presentation of our art, I felt like I could have done better by presenting a drawing of a stick figure man holding a hat and cane. Actually, my drawings weren't too bad, but still, compared to the other students with YEARS of art experience, my work was that of a
kindergartner.....Ms. Fisher was kind and found something to compliment.....incentive to draw
better next time!
Maybe I'll take photos of what I've done so far....we'll see.......but despite this
humbling experience, I'm still proud of myself for trying something new. So, look out watercolors, here I come....maybe
practicing concentric circles using a cup
1. blind draw and 2. free draw of seed pod
using rocks to practice box/square shading to improve skills in shading items that a
re boxlike in nature; practice drawing parallel lines to improve skills in drawing trees, stems, twigs, etc.
practice shading with two basic shapes (wooden sphere and square)
This is practice tracing and then shading in areas we think should be
blackened
This is my first presentation where we were to draw 3 'simple' objects to scale and true
size using a small rock as our measurement tool...I was off a bit :/ and these three objects turned out to not be so simple.... small, ceramic Korean duck, tea cup, and a shell
this is my second presentation of two objects, one black and one white, that we shade ...I used a black and white computer mouse and a white eraser.
No comments:
Post a Comment