What I Learned Wednesday

"still life - bottles on cloth" - india ink and china brushes

Yippee! It's back!

I missed two drawing classes in a row due to family gatherings on Halloween and then the David Bowie Disease, but I went last night. We started playing with India Ink and seeing how China brushes worked and the variations in the lines that it makes. I have to say that I didn't like the ink and brush at first. I felt that it wasn't a controllable medium and I was suddenly back to drawing like a little kid...but then, I let go. I stopped trying so hard make what I was drawing look so exact. I gave in to the flow of the brush and I really enjoyed the freedom of it, the shape of the lines and the texture.

My teacher then went on to discuss perspective (which we will be delving more into next week) and geometric shapes, letting us play with them by drawing stacked books. I wasn't exactly impressed by how my pictures turned out. I just wasn't getting the hang of it! I was having issues with the angles and trying to get them the way I was seeing them; they looked so skewed, but that was toward the end of class when I was feeling a bit dizzy. It was all that focusing, it made my head spin.

I really enjoy this class but...I'm a little disappinted. You see this was the first class of the second half of the course, so our numbers changed and a handful of the fun people from the first part of the course didn't come back. The change in numbers doesn't bother me, it's just...well, some of the people, 3 in particular, do. I like to call them the Sunshine Sisters ~ like rays of FREAKIN' sunshine, these women are. And if you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic!

To start with, they're all deaf, so you have to speak loudly and repeat yourself continously. And. They. Are. Sooooo. Negative! Everything they create is horrible and every other sentence out of their mouth starts with "I can't". I want to ask them, "Well if you can't, why the hell did you pay to take this course!?!", but I hold my tongue and try to ignore them. I'm in this class for me, to learn and hone a craft that I enjoy!

But last night was almost a "straw that broke the camel's back" moment. My teacher kept asking them to show her their work so she could make suggestions and help, to make them see what she wanted us to learn. They would hide their work and say they didn't need help, or complain that they just didn't understand what she wanted or just bitch saying, "Well I can't do that". We had the radio on just because it gets so quiet in the room and some christmas song started playing. It was random and kinda nice - a bit of a holiday jolt to get you in the mood for the coming season. These women were so vehement in their hatred of hearing Christmas music and kept repeating, "I just hate it - it's horrible. Nothing Christmas should be put out or played until a week before!" Being a lover of all things Christmas, it made me want to slap them! I am not a violent woman, I'm pretty easy going and laid back, but these women just get on my nerves!

I'm trying to see from their point of view that maybe something traumatic happened to make them hate the holiday season, or maybe they just don't like it on principle, but why spread your hate and discontent to others - does it make you feel better making others as miserable as you? And here I am blogging about it, spreading it even more by relating it to others around the world - okay, I'm stopping. They're hate and discontent is rolling off my back like water off a duck.

And on that note, I'd like to say...I love Christmas! I love the whole rosy feel of the season! And so long as I'm not battling traffic or shopping on a crazy busy day, I have a permanent smile on my face. I know better than to work in retail during the holiday season, or shop during peak hours during holiday. Some people thrive on that. I avoid it. I go out in the woods and collect pine & spruce boughs and twigs of red berries to decorate the outside of my house with. I cook, so the house smells delicious and christmasy. I watch old movies like Holiday Inn, the Bishop's Wife and White Christmas (they are my personal holiday mood booster movies).

So be prepared, I will be posting much about Christmas!

Have a wonderful day all! I have to go down the House of Reps and see if my friend's husband still has a job...oh the stress of working in an ever changing political environment!