Art Class

On Wednesday last, I took a big step, and joined an art class. And boy, am I at the deep end!

As you know, I've been taking shortcuts, the main one being taking a photograph of my subject and tracing the photograph as the basis for my painting. I was told by one of the teachers that I would learn a lot more by not tracing. I did learn how to draw a good ellipse all right, but, after a 2-hour class, I felt the teachers had spent a lot of time correcting my drawing, and there was not much left of my own tentative efforts. It's just as well, as it wasn't good, and I think they were anxious to get me started on the painting rather than staying stuck at the drawing phase.

The class focuses on acrylics, and I am keen to learn how to apply acrylics well. So far, all I've done is apply the first base layer on illustration board (rather than canvas, which apparently is harder to work with. I think illustration board is cheaper too, so a good way to get started without spending huge amounts of money), and it really doesn't look like much.

The other students in the class all have been working with these teachers for a good while, and all already had projects in progress, although I thought this was the start of a class cycle. All of them seemed to be working from photographs and are doing a variety of things, not just still lives, and they got stuck straight in, while I needed a lot of attention from the teachers. So I felt very much like the new kid on the block. And very inadequate! Maybe I should have picked a simple landscape rather than my little crystal vase with blue glass pebbles and pink ribbons.

Anyways, for what it's worth, here are 2 versions of my efforts - the first one is as is; the second is after applying a bit of Adobe Photoshop Elements to correct what looks to me like completely wrong perspective! A world apart from the one that's proudly hanging in our bedroom. That said, even that one didn't look so good at the start, so I have no doubt that this ugly little duckling will turn into a beautiful swan. Looking at the other students' paintings, there is hope for me yet. Or these ladies are all extremely talented!