Art Class
So last night’s class went so much better. It’s amazing how much easier everything is when I am not an emotional wreck.
Go figure, right?
Anyhow. I took more photos yesterday than normal and what follows is what I did in class. The class is 3 hours long and I arrived a little late – so these follow a span of about 2-1/2 hours total so far.
This is the Art Class that I am taking at the Memorial Art Gallery Creative Worskshop. Under Fred Lipp. I think it is titled Advanced Painting or something along those lines.
Fred is a great teacher and works with all of us on whatever level we are at (sometimes even by the day and situation as is the case with me). He can be brutal in his critiques – but that is why I am there. To learn. Which is not going to happen if I only listen to the people who tell me I am doing a great job.
Working in such an open medium as painting has really been difficult for me. When I sit down with a canvas I can do ANYTHING with it. Which can be both freeing and crippling. In tattooing I am given specifics and parameters from the client and then work within those. With painting I can do whatever I want – which can actually be the hardest part of the process.
What do I want to do?
I have so little free time for personal creative pursuits that I want to make the most of it. I want to learn and push myself – but of course I still want to make something that I can be pleased with. These are often contradicting intentions. I have to remember that the process (in this) is the goal. Unlike in tattooing where the finished piece is the goal.
Actually very different pursuits.
In this piece I would like to push the planes further – make the area below the jaw recede back further and put some more definition into the structures – but overall I am pretty pleased with it thus far. I had always read that you should never use black in your paintings and so it felt wrong to do the large black field behind him (her?) but I think it was an okay choice. I may overpaint it with purple later – but right now I like it just black.
The photo reference was stolen off of another artists facebook page. Sorry Joe for stealing your dog – I just really liked the lighting.
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