Wednesday, January 31st, 2018
Will
The year has gotten off to a busy start. As usual, there’s so much to do and not enough time to do it. I’ve known for years that I’ve havd too many hobbies, but I’ve had people comment on it recently.
I’m getting some stuff set up for photography. I want to start painting again. I’ve started playing guitar again. There’s gaming stuff that I want to do.
It’s going to be a busy year. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, February 28th, 2017
Will
Lately I’ve been getting a chance to explore my artistic side.
Last year when I was unemployed, I enrolled in a beginner’s drawing class. Kysen had taken the class and recommended it to me knowing that I was interested in finding a class to take. I drew a little when I was a kid, mostly just trying to copy pictures in books. I enjoyed taking this class. The teacher spends a lot of time trying to get you comfortable with the idea that you’re not going to make a perfect representation of anything, that it takes a lot of practice to get better, and that you should find a way to work that is fun for you. Most people in the class most likely had some drawing experience because their drawings were so much better than mine. There were times where I got really frustrated because I wasn’t showing any improvement, but eventually something clicked and I started doing better. My drawings are still very simplistic, but I think I made a lot of progress by the end. One cool thing is that for 2 sessions, we got to draw a live nude model.

I’m currently in the middle of the next class, which is an intermediate drawing class. It’s for intermediate drawers or beginning paintings. You get to decide whether you want to draw or paint. I decided I wanted to paint. He told us that this time we would draw a model almost every session. In some ways, I’m starting from square one. Painting is hard. There’s really no instruction in technique (not that there a lot in the previous class) and you spend most of the class doing things however you want to. For the first half of the class, beginning painters are doing something completely different from the rest of the class, rarely working from the model. I had a lot of fun exploring colors and brushstrokes and doing a lot of abstract work. This past week I worked from a model for the entire class and got a little frustrated, but some encouraging words lifting my spirits at the end. I think it will take is a LOT of practice for me to get better.

I’m sure one of these days my work will be featured in a museum. Not really, but at least I’m having fun and getting to express myself.
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