can i say yes, i am an artist?
I've never thought of myself as an artist. The last class I had related to art, not counting the wine and paint gatherings where the main focus of course, was wine, was in middle school. Miss LaCroix, who was a very good teacher taught me things I still remember...how to paint trees and humans and form follows function. Then I pretty much left that subject alone.
I have always loved to write but I never thought of that as art until I started working at the Arts Center. People would ask if I was an artist, and finally I could say, "I am a word artist." But it still seemed different.
About a year ago, I decided to take drawing lessons. I signed up for three lessons and struggled mightily but I did learn that it was ok to struggle and I could keep going.
I found a wonderful teacher who calls herself my creativity mentor. For the last year, she has encouraged me through drawing, some introduction to painting, paper cutting, the fundamentals of art and design, famous artists, and many different art materials. I have a huge collection of my own supplies and I even set up a studio in our basement. I have an antique drafting table that belonged to a man who had been an artist and illustrator for many years. I bought myself a cool LED lamp and a nice chair and I've done a reasonable job of organizing things.
The last time we met, my teacher introduced the notion of a project. She had ideas from things I have talked about, the way in which to encourage me. She suggested a three part project...abstract landscapes, writing about landscape and home (mostly things I have already done), and three dimensional sculpture using fiber.
The last one has given me the most pause. I've been a knitter but mostly used the cheap acrylic yarn from the big box stores. I don't know much about real wool fiber, so I'm learning. I'm learning about color, and texture, and heddle looms, and circular weaving, and free-style weaving. It's a blast.
Thursday, my teacher and I are going to Mankato to check out a yarn stash sale. I want to know more about felting.
I have so many ideas that sometimes I have to take a nap to give my head a rest. Haha!
I have always loved to write but I never thought of that as art until I started working at the Arts Center. People would ask if I was an artist, and finally I could say, "I am a word artist." But it still seemed different.
About a year ago, I decided to take drawing lessons. I signed up for three lessons and struggled mightily but I did learn that it was ok to struggle and I could keep going.
I found a wonderful teacher who calls herself my creativity mentor. For the last year, she has encouraged me through drawing, some introduction to painting, paper cutting, the fundamentals of art and design, famous artists, and many different art materials. I have a huge collection of my own supplies and I even set up a studio in our basement. I have an antique drafting table that belonged to a man who had been an artist and illustrator for many years. I bought myself a cool LED lamp and a nice chair and I've done a reasonable job of organizing things.
The last time we met, my teacher introduced the notion of a project. She had ideas from things I have talked about, the way in which to encourage me. She suggested a three part project...abstract landscapes, writing about landscape and home (mostly things I have already done), and three dimensional sculpture using fiber.
The last one has given me the most pause. I've been a knitter but mostly used the cheap acrylic yarn from the big box stores. I don't know much about real wool fiber, so I'm learning. I'm learning about color, and texture, and heddle looms, and circular weaving, and free-style weaving. It's a blast.
Thursday, my teacher and I are going to Mankato to check out a yarn stash sale. I want to know more about felting.
I have so many ideas that sometimes I have to take a nap to give my head a rest. Haha!
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