Art Class

Last night was my first art class. I signed up for a four-session class at the Art School. The class was Drawing and Painting - Students' Choice. So here's what happened:

1. I pulled into the parking lot & headed toward the building. There was a guy who was bringing his dog into the building. I thought, that's pretty rude. Oops - the guy was my teacher.

2. I don't like dogs. Not afraid - just don't like. So of course this dirty, mangy old dog latched right onto me like I was a steak. Teacher said he would remove the dog if anyone there had a problem, and one guy obviously did, because he would freak out anytime the dog went near him, but dog stayed for the entire 90-minute class. Whining the entire time.

3. Teacher spent the first thirty minutes showing off his art (sketches of bare-breasted women, not that I have a problem with that, but it made me wonder if this guy's a lech, seeing as how that was all he showed), talking about where his art can be seen, discussing his Native American heritage, and talking about his tumultuous home life. Then he sketched a few basic shapes, pointed us toward some pencils, crayons, colored pencils, paper, and some basic objects (cubes, squares) to sketch, and told us to have at it.

4. Guy afraid of dog asks several times if the class will continue to be this basic. Teacher explains that it is basically self-directed, that we can work on whatever we want and he will give guidance. Guy afraid of dog goes to great pains to make sure we all know that he went to art class at his high school (oooohhh), and therefore needs more than a basic class. Teacher explains again the concept of self-directed learning.

5. This approach is going to work well for me, since I already paint (badly) and know in which areas I need to improve (all of them, but some more than others).

6. I wanted to improve my painting, but no paints were provided, just drawing supplies. So next week I'm going to drag in a bag of my watercolors and acrylics, brushes, etc., and have at it. Hopefully we can right to work next week - I can get a lot done in 90 minutes when I'm not distracted!

7. The whole thing was just entertaining in a bizarre way, and it least it got me out of the house on a 6 degree night.