When I was younger, I really enjoyed art class. I loved to draw, and would draw everywhere and at every time. Teachers would write home to my parents that I wasn’t paying attention during class. I don’t know why they cared, I got all A’s back then anyway.
I got to work with paint once or twice in my grade school art career. I painted one picture of Aladdin and Jasmine, which promptly and mysteriously got vandalized by someone who decided their eyes would look better pink. I also painted a sleeping wolf, based on something in a children’s book I’d recently read. I loved my wolf painting. I have no idea what the fate of that one was.
In high school art class, the teacher wanted to do more abstract sorts of things…. while I insisted on trying to make something as realistic as I could. We hit a compromise of sorts on the paper mache creatures. I made mine dog shaped, and painted it blue with polka dots.
At some point I got tired of everyone (or so it seemed) coming to me in class asking me to draw something for them, to copy something for them, to do their work for them. So I started hiding the talent away. The last time I really drew anything was in about 2002 when I had a lot of free time as a stand-in on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I drew all the cast members and presented my art to them at the end of the season.
When I saw the painting “class” on Groupon (or LivingSocial, who can remember?) I decided to go for it and take a friend along for the fun. We chose Starry Night as the one we wanted to recreate at this Wine and Canvas event. Yeah, there was wine, but no, it wasn’t included. I ended up buying myself a basil lemon cocktail.
I would have chosen to work with oil paints, as I did several years ago when I thought I’d attempt to learn to paint. I didn’t get far, I think a bit of class is in order for me.
I can’t even find the original painting I was copying. Degas? Anyway, I needed to learn more about mixing colours.
So Saturday night, we got buzzed and attempted to recreate Starry Night, within 3 hours. This is what I ended up with:
For an exercise in speed-painting, I’d say not bad.
I do like to paint, and draw, but it always comes down to – what would I do with them once I create them? I don’t even have a place to live, a place to display any art, let alone store the stuff I don’t want to hang on a wall. Do you just give it away? That’s got to be hard. Sell it? I’m sure there are plenty of artists out there trying to sell their work. Mostly, I don’t know what I would draw or paint. I guess I’d have to go out and search for inspiration.
Oh there are just too many fun things to do in life. Do you have any talents or skills or hobbies that you’d like to try, but don’t know how they’d fit into your life? What do you do about it?
