It was an artful weekend, huzzah!
I painted a few more 4″x4″s, and will be working on a few more. They’re spread out on the dining table, but K doesn’t seem to be bothered by them, so I’ll leave them out. Easier to sit down and work a little that way. I’m also refining my ideas on the yellow 12″ round collage I’ll be working on soon, and last night I did a thumbnail preliminary sketch of the piece I’m working on for the “Depression” series. I had a “brainwave” yesterday about the best way to formalize the piece, and now I’m thinking I might collage it, or collage with acrylics.
I got the new Pratt Fine Arts Center summer catalog, and am desperately frustrated that the classes I want to take are either expensive or have prerequisites that are expensive and time-consuming. For example, “Exploring Abstracting,” which explains how to abstract a subject (I’m clueless on this and haven’t yet found a book on it) costs $180 (plus the registration fee of $20, so $200), and has a prereq of “Drawing Fundamentals” which, even though I could probably benefit from, is six sessions and $140. The Abstracting workshop is on a weekend, the drawing class is on a weekday and I would have to take vacation days. So, for 9 weeks at a cost of $340 and 3 full vacation days, I can learn how to abstract. Art is either a well-paying or really poorly-paying profession. Where do these places think all the money is going to come from for these classes? Starving artists?
Also, I’ve pretty much figured that the faux-encaustic workshop I want to take in August is out of the question. What with the cost of gas, ferry fares, and everything else going up (yet another utilities hike in greater Seattle), the workshop being in Coupeville has placed it completely out of my reach. Even if I could find the $315 for the workshop, the other costs, either driving every day or two nights in a motel, would put this adventure between $700-$1,000. Sucks.
Oh, well. Maybe next year, right? I have plenty of other techniques I can explore. How cool would it be to have people really love my work and I get to say I’m self-taught?
Anyway, I went to a really good demo this weekend by artist Julia Ricketts on layering acrylics with stencils. Then I spent almost my entire allowance on new paints.
