For the love of Art-our first painting class

This is in continuation to my earlier post “For the love of Art”… for those who had been waiting to read the sequel to my earlier post, apologies for the delay! The lazy me, office, home and most importantly, sponsored posts and contests tried their best to keep this post away…but I ain’t that bad a blogger, I keep my promises…

So here we go…

Was it the love for Mr. Hubby or the hatred for my poor drawing skills that convinced me, I don’t know, but the following Sunday, we packed whatever art material we had (just in case we were asked to begin painting with acrylics the same day! Lol!) and zoomed for our class. My condition throughout the drive was that of a kid going to a dentist who asks his mother “will it pain?”…I too kept asking Mr. Hubby, “U sure na I can do it?” And just like the mother assures it won’t pain much, he too assured me I would easily learn to paint with finesse.

All that convincing dashed for the trash bin when we entered the class…for our classmates ranged from 3 to 12 year olds! As the teacher welcomed us, I gave Mr. Hubby a quick “I will kill you” look and he gave me a helpless smile. I was certain the paints and the pencils will continue to rest inside the boot of the car, as this would be a kiddo type class…which meant this was my first and last class, which meant no more painting without the blame on me! Woohoo!

The teacher, who was younger than us, it seems had other plans…

He began by showing us around the whole area and reading my face, even told me that the students range from small kids to housewives and senior citizens! Lovely canvasses decorated in acrylic donned the walls of our classroom. There were also some very interesting sculptures (one even in the shape of a sharpener made with granite!) and the teacher told us those were part of an exhibition recently concluded.

The more artwork he showed the more I feared, for it became clear the class wasn’t meant to be just simple drawing and painting.  I could see a teenager painting stuff that I can never even imagine myself trying in the wildest of dreams. Mr. Hubby however, was completely at ease and I marvelled at the way he discussed stuff like modernism, cubism, works of Monet, Constable, Picasso etc. with the teacher.

We were soon assigned our first task – to do a still life in pencil of two pots and a glass bottle placed on a table.

the prop

Now, you might wonder, what is so tough about making a pot or two? But lemme tell you it is far tough than it seems – getting the entire finer details and shading right (even the glass!) by using just pencil!

Within minutes I realized not only was I a bad painter but also a terrible one at simple drawings. I couldn’t just get 2 simple pots on a large sheet right! If the left of the pot got too curvaceous, the right one was lesser curvaceous. I sat staring at the blank sheet in frustration feeling stuck, somewhat like Pie in The Life of Pie…in the middle of nowhere!

Just half an hour had passed which meant I had to go through the ordeal for another 1 ½ hours! Since we were first timers and adults, we attracted kids; they occasionally peeped from behind at what we were drawing. As I sat tortured, I saw a hyper enthusiastic Mr. Hubby already done with his drawing and asking the teacher for shading tips. 

The teacher praised him for his work and gave me a funny look, yet reassured me in a friendly tone, “It’s your first time, relax…some patience and you will get it right. Look at that girl, she has been painting that setup for a month now and only now is it near completion.” Patience? I was almost in tears and cursed myself for being so impulsive. “Why did I impulsively go for something that requires so much patience? A painting even takes months to complete and here I am hoping to get a perfect still life in an hour! That’s why I love blogging. Atleast at the end of an hour, I have a post ready and uploaded!”

I remembered the art room of my school, it too had similar still life set ups with perfect spot lights and students working passionately for hours getting them right in paint. I had often laughed at them for being so super vellaaa and here I was. Anyway, I soon realised it made no sense sitting idle as I would be the laughing stock of the classroom if my sheet didn’t look any different after 2 hours!

So I began to try, rubbing and drawing, with a frequent eye on Mr. Hubby’s sheet and another on my watch! I had decided it would be my last class, but didn’t want to look a loser at my maiden attempt. 

They say art is something that requires immense concentration! And here was me! Sweat, hunger, thirst, urge to check my phone, nature’s call…my mind was full of everything but concentration!

Once a blogger, always a blogger! Soon, it occurred to me that these painting classes can give me good fodder for my blog…imagine a separate tab of posts containing my experiences from being a horrible to a great artist! While struggling with my first sketch, I even started imagining the content of some posts!

A tall shadow got me back to the class! The teacher was standing there, smiling and looking at my sketch. I looked at the watch…time up….”Not bad, he said, your drawing is decent, but you need to work on the shading part…Don’t worry, a sketch a day and you will improve in a week’s time!”.

A sketch a day? Did I hear him right? I am a living pendulum between kitchen and living room when at home, and he expects me to make a sketch a day?

He praised Mr. Hubby for his detailed and clean art work and advised him more practice. As I sat in the car, I announced it was my first and last class. “Why?” a shocked Mr. Hubby asked me. I narrated him the entire story in a cranky childlike tone. But he was quick and clever to get the deal of my interest. He sounded super enthusiastic about my idea of a series of posts on my painting classes. He even offered to treat me to Mc Donald’s burger after every painting class! (hehe…) and encouraged me by praising my efforts and perseverance. Art is about trying and exploring and he sounded certain that with practice and time, I too would get it right…

I had thought it to be my first and last class…

But the person who said change is the only constant had some brains after all!

Two months have since passed and I look forward to my art classes now…initially it was for the Mc Donald’s treat but now it is truly for the love of art! I am surprised at how an impatient me can feel so comfortable with drawing…so much that I have tried out portraits as well!

my first still life

Me wonderzzz…

That’s life…a pandora’s box…we don’t know what lies inside…well, a lot of beautiful stuff does…we just need to explore with an open mind!

From still life to outdoors to portraits to watercolours, Mr. Hubby and I have happily gone through the metamorphosis. But it hasn’t been a smooth one for me…specially the day we were taken to a park and asked to do outdoors in pencil! Wanna know what happened next? Well, will tell you in my next post “For the Love of Art – our first outdoor”

 

Wear your attitude!