During this period of Covid-induced isolation and seclusion, I half expected to get back to trying to be creative. The promises I made to myself to do so were empty. The easel sat forever with a dusty canvas on it. I never finished the project I started at the retreat I attended more than a year ago. The list of personal disappointments is long, but I'm not going to document all of the failures. Time to move ahead and DO something.
Last week I stumbled on the web site Domestika which offers very affordable art classes, the kind where you pay a single fee and have access to the videos forever (we'll see about that). I started poking around and found two that really interested me, one offering instruction in watercolor, the other a combination of portrait painting using a photo as a guide and Photoshop layers. The format allows for independent trudging along, but the opportunity to ask questions of the artists or participate in the forum for the class. The lessons are not in English but subtitled, so each will take a couple of viewings (the first to read, next to watch), but I don't mind. This will offer an opportunity for me to improve my Spanish which I clearly need after the game of charades with my landscaper today. Two lessons for the price of one!
The first "lesson" was simply to view the artist's introduction to herself and the course, then provide a personal introduction and thoughts behind choosing the course. I made the mistake of reading the introductions of others taking the class before submitting my own and just about stopped in my tracks - graphic artists, doctors, illustrators, interior designers...but the description clearly stated that no experience was required. While I sat frozen for a good ten minutes before attaching photos of my own work and my bio brief, I reread what I typed a couple of times. My goal is to have fun learning something new. That's it. Not to compete with others in the class, not to compare my work to theirs and then feel sorry for sucking at painting, but to focus on having fun. So I hit "submit." It was the most challenging keystroke ever, but I did it. As soon as I did, I wondered if it were possible to go back later and delete the photos. Then I stopped myself, having decided that I need to do things differently. I always told my kids, "If at first you don't succeed, stop doing the same thing that didn't work over and over again!" Time for me to listen to my own good advice and shut down the negative thoughts.
Time to look at lesson #2.
