Bringing a fragmented art education together
I started with drawing, not realising at the time how helpful that would turn out to be. “Drawing for Non-Artists” – my neighbour brought the adult education brochure round to show me the class because she knew I wanted to learn art, as a consolation for a broken relationship and a tribute to succesful eye surgery. Fantastic class and teacher, now a good friend.
http://drawingfornonartists.weebly.com/
Here I learnt how to look at the world around and make marks on paper, and I fell in love with the process, the absorption, the struggle.
Since then I have signed up for classes in drawing outdoors, watercolour, painting, life drawing, painting levels 1, 2 and 3, painting in contemporary practice, and now, advanced painting. Evening classes, painting in groups, summer school courses. The low point was an oil painting class where people were told to copy a landscape from a postcard. I got out quick and asked for my money back. High points came from tutors who prompted and prodded and pushed, while also enabling (Val Bestwick, Hephzibah Rendle-Short, I thank you!)
It’s been a pick-and-mix kind of art education, more practical than theoretical. This year I am trying to bring the fragments together and let my individual painter’s voice emerge more strongly from the various influences and inputs. That’s why I chose a day workshop-type class. It’s been a roller coaster so far but I feel that there is a shift happening.
