You guys, the learning!

I deeply loved my year long Art Foundation course. {Which was the last time I did any formal art training, about 14 years ago.} One of the reasons for that was because of the amount of learning I did in that year. I love to learn. When I get in my learning groove, it’s very hard to shut me up or calm me down.

I’ve taken many online art classes at this point. Some I’ve loved, some I have found disappointing. But the favourites are always the ones where I’m shown NEW WAYS of approaching things I’ve been doing for a long time. {Yes, I’m talking about more than just art here.}

Truth is always true across the board, and when I learn things in a class that go beyond what I SEEM to be learning, that can be applied in other areas of my life, that for me is where the real joy is.

That’s why I am busting at the seams for Draw and Paint What You Love. Yes I am learning new ways to approach making art; the ‘virtual figure painting’ you see below was created using shapes first, instead of trying to draw an accurate likeness using outlines. This results in a much looser, more expressive painting.

{I’m still learning to be really loose; my instinct/habit tries to keep everything neat and orderly, but I can see a pathway forming that will take me in that direction, which is very exciting.}

But I am also learning other things, which if you read the previous two paragraphs on another level, becomes very obvious.

Where I get caught in painting neatly, in creating a likeness instead of a suggestion, I am learning to let go, to start in a different place, to approach it more loosely, to let it flow and allow the paint to do some of the work for me. See the Truths here?….

While drawing the above charcoal portraits as well as while painting the figure, I also learned that how something FEELS {in both process and outcome} is far more important to me than how it looks, and that rather than insisting on what I think I’m looking at, by loosening my grip on both brush and ‘how to’, I can bring something into ‘feeling right’ and create something far more pleasurable to experience.

I always knew that for me art and healing were connected, and not just because drawing or painting can be therapeutic and meditative. I always felt there was more to it than that, and at long last it’s starting to become something tangible for me.

I’m very excited about this because once I have a deeper understanding of it I want to use my knowledge and experience to share that connection with others.

I’m doing a lot of behind the scenes investigation to see where this might take me at the moment, and even though it makes me want to punch people in the face when they broadcast how excited they are about this ‘secret’ thing they’re doing, that is kind of the case here. Sorry to be so obscure, but putting the cart before the horse is a habit I’m trying to move away from. 🙂

In the meantime, I’ll keep sharing what I make and what I learn, and maybe it will help you see things anew, or bring insights or inspiration or encouragement. Because I know now that that’s pretty much what I’m here for, this time around.

learning to be looser