Surviving College Again

I just turned in my thick, bulging with creativity sketchbook to my teacher and it marks the end of the class. I am proud of my sketchbook and put many, long hours into its gestation. Along with it was the 3 part final assignment consisting of 3 compositions, two of them paintings. Also included was my portfolio with all class assignments for the semester. As I inserted each piece into the portfolio, it brought back a myriad of memories. 

The gray scale assignment was to construct 6 compositions using art theory of harmony and I must have deconstructed 20 compositions before I was satisfied with 6. Even those six were "I don't care anymore, just finish this freaking assignment yesterday".

The positive-negative space composition was fun and a blessed relief after the gray scale. Completing the first piece successfully, I held it up to my teacher like a 5 yr old preschooler and said,

"Okay. I am done. I got it. Do I have to do the other two as well?"

"Yes, Lisa, you GET to do the other two as well."

I still liked my first attempt best when I was finished and even submitted it into the Cuesta College Spring Art Contest. It was accepted for judging and has hung on the wall in the gallery for 3 weeks! I called it "Romantic Renaissance" and it looks like vintage baroque wall paper. Now I have to remember to get it back before school is out for the summer!

The next composition was pushing scale and proportion way out of wack. Cutting up magazine images and arranging them as a visual feast for the eyes. People were doing strange things in strange ways in very strange places. Women with big hair, bulldogs in clown outfits and cruise ships sailing in wine glasses.

Up next: red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange...colors! I was ready to dive in a big vat of cobalt blue, paint my cheeks indigo purple and frost my hair cadmium yellow. Color wheels were spinning out of all of us. Monochromatic, tertiary and analogous color schemes came dripping off our paintbrushes. Everyone went home from class with flushed happy smiles and rainbows of paint sploshes all over their clothes.

As my paintbrushes dry, I learned that I need to take an art class every semester.  By taking this art class I learned about space, proportion, scale, line, form, harmony, balance and color. I submitted a piece of art work for the very first time in my life to be judged by peers. I need to push my comfort zone every opportunity I can because that is when I truly will learn, grow, change and burn new neurotransmitter pathways in my brain. If I am comfortable, I am not growing. I am looking forward to a lot of unpleasant and uncomfortable moments in my life...I am looking forward to meeting the new me along the way!