Impression of an artist

Apparently, and this was news to me (I didn't know there was a name for me), I'm a "natural Impressionist."

Let me start over.

Yesterday was the best day.

First of all, it was a Thursday, which automatically makes it amazing, because oil painting is my only class, and it doesn't start until 1, so I get to sleep in. Monday through Wednesday I have classes starting at 9 every morning. Thus, waking up naturally at 10:30 was a great start.

Second, and this is where it gets interesting, we started a new painting. Usually, this means a fair amount of stress. We have to make sure our canvas is ready for class, we change the palette slightly to accommodate whatever the assignment needs, and, critically, we suddenly have another painting in progress that we have to fit into our mindset. For me this is particularly difficult, since I have trouble ever saying a painting is "done," since I can always see flaws that need to be fixed. Jun and Jane both had to tell me to let go of our first two still lifes, to move on, and to "not even look at them." Thus, starting a new painting is usually more a cause for alarm than excitement. The one thing we had to look forward to was the color change - though a change in palette is usually just hard to keep track of (think, "did we use ultramarine blue on the first or the second still life?"), we were finally switching to a prismatic palette, which meant we'd no longer have to fake greens and blues with black, white, and yellow ochre, but we'd get to see rich, vibrant color again. What a delight!

It came to light that we'd be doing a painting in the "Impressionist" style, which, summarily, means loose brush strokes, lots of texture, lots of optical color mixing, more opaque colors and layering (and thus less "glazing back" and "scumbling up," not that anybody really understands those terms) and less of a realism requirement. From there, styles of impressionism vary from artist to artist, meaning we'd finally, FINALLY get to paint a painting how we wanted the painting to look, and less how the still-life items appeared photographically...if that makes any sense. It made me happy, anyhow

I immediately decided to paint the front door of the school. The actual front door - the nice peachy-white one that appears on the website, not the one all the students actually use to get in the school. Its coloring is wonderful, it's got cool plants next to it, and it's outside. Really, honestly, drawing from life.

It only took about five minutes for me to realize that type of painting was what I'd been missing. I was terribly paranoid that Jun or Jane would come out and tell me I'd been doing it wrong, but I was having such a wonderful time that I found it hard to believe that enjoying myself could be the "wrong way" to do anything art-related.

Let me be brief, since I think this is dragging on.

I have never had so much fun in this oil painting class as I did yesterday.

I started and finished the painting over the course of four hours.

Nothing else I've started is done.

I have found my oil painting calling, as it were.

More impressionist painting is ready to spill out of me. I just need subjects :)

I'll post a picture of my first impressionist painting ever, very very soon!

Signing off,

Egg