Introduction to Painting Class

ever since i can remember, i have always been on the lookout for painting classes. as you know, i have quite a bit of experience with drawing, as i love doing portraits in charcoal or pencil. but with painting, i always get a bit apprehensive. not only because i find it quite difficult to render color on paper, but also because i’m scared to go in a class where all the other people have already had the skill and experience beforehand. yeah, i hate being judged. especially for my art work. so, do be gentle with me in the comments, now. 🙂

but then, last week, i felt quite lucky to stumble upon this painting school that organizes classes for people who have never ever painted in their lives. and they even offer a discount for this introductory class. what’s more, it’s a mere fifteen-minute walk from where i live, which is just perfect!

my class began really early in the morning. i decided to bring along my baby and her nanny with me since it was quite a pleasant early morning walk on the way to the school. we got there really early, so we even had some extra time to sit and enjoy the pleasant park where the school is located.

such verdant and calming ambiance. who wouldn’t get inspired to create some art work surrounded by all this greenery?

they even have a cozy little café inside. it was unfortunately closed on Wednesdays.

this is how my set-up looked like. you can see my blank canvas, and farther up behind is the still life subject of a collection of things in different shapes — a cube, an apple and a banana. they were all illuminated on the upper left corner with a yellowish light from a tiny desk lamp.

before sitting, the teacher first told us how to use the materials. we were made to choose between oil and acrylic. i chose oil because i thought it’s easier to manage than acrylic since she told us that acrylic dries up quickly. this is how i looked like after the session. right before cleaning up everything. so happeeee!!!

and this is how my palette looked like. can you imagine how a lot more difficult it would have been had we used more colors? we only used white and green, actually, because we were just working on the different shades, tonality and gradation of colors.

you would think that having just two colors to work on would simplify everything. it was not the case at all. i kept getting lost all the time, trying to find where one shape ends and where one shape begins. it’s a lot lot different from mere black and white sketching and drawing, which is definitely more straightforward than painting.

here, you have the results. can you guess which one is mine? 🙂

mine is actually second from the left in the above pic. i thought i screwed up the entire painting at first because i started my painting using a mix of white and green colors. it’s because i thought i should begin from lighter to darker. it turns out to be just the opposite… but i managed to make the corrections.

i really think my banana was the best and most realistic-looking than the rest of the class. and it was in the most challenging position from where i was sitting. unfortunately, i didn’t have enough time to work more on my apple and cube. i don’t know why i got so fixated on the banana… probably because i tend to work on the most challenging to the least… which is not always a good idea.

and here it is again up-close. i really liked painting. i totally enjoyed it. makes you forget about everything else and makes you feel like a kid again. i’m just a bit turned off with the mess and the smell of the turpentine. and it also stings a bit on the skin. but well, don’t we all have to do some sacrifice and suffering, all in the name of art and beauty?

and of course, i had to do a pic with my chef d’oeuvre. 🙂