Community Chat

[catlvr]

Coincidentally I had just signed up for a drawing class at a local art school and a couple of people asked me to share how it's going.

Well, it's turning out to be a weird and amazing trip. If you have the slightest inclination to art I would recommend it highly. There are more benefits than learning how to draw.

What has really struck me is the relationship between art and psychology. I've been feeling a bit off (what I like to call 'verklemmt' - yiddish for uptight, wound up) lately and I can feel it as I am drawing. I can also feel myself letting some of that go as I focus on my feelings while I'm drawing.

There is, of course the obvious satisfaction of creating something pleasing, beautiful even and also astonishment at what I can still learn to do.

Our teacher is a woman with a lifetime of art and in a number of media behind her and she is still creating big stuff. Her insights and tips and advice are priceless in terms of bringing the class to the point of real accomplishment.

I am working on a big thing right now and I find it unbelievable, quite literally that I am and I can do this.

I am drawing in pencil, one stroke at a time a native american male taken from a portrait photo of him taken in 1901. This is a particular technique that we are using by leaving the light/white space of the photo white and penciling in the dark spaces....and freakishly it's working. It's supposed to teach us about the quality of tone. BTW I adore working with a pencil...who knew?

This has been a revelation and has gotten my brain cranked over on a number of creative projects and I feel less 'verklemmt'. I'm also someone who always wants stuff done fast, now and this is really forcing me to slow down and consider carefully what I am doing. Excellent discipline.

I highly recommend taking a class like this.

catlvr