Last week we started our spring quarter at SCAD. The school operates on the quarter system so we have the fall quarter, winter quarter, spring quarter (which counts up a full year of credits), and then the optional summer quarter.
This is my second spring quarter at SCAD so come this June I will have been in college for a full 2 years now. At the beginning of this school year, in September, I started my major classes, having finally finished enough intro level credits. I try to take my classes in the recommended order for my major so I don't mess up my scheduling in the future. So far, as a painting major, I've taken Water Based Techniques, which was an intro to acrylics class, and Oil Based Techniques, which was an intro to oils. So far I've come out of each class with works I'm extremely proud of so it looked pretty promising that I would continue making solid work the more I learned.
This quarter...it's only been a week but I already feel like I've hit a wall. This spring I'm taking a class called Human Image: Capturing Identity and Essence, which sounds great but I have a strong feeling I should have taken Portrait Painting before this. You know, learn the basics and then build up. I've never really painted the human figure before. I painted a couple of self-portraits before I came to SCAD but that was before I had any technical skill. I've certainly never painted from a live model before so this is all very new to me. I know with a lot of practice my skills will definitely improve but I took kind of a hit coming into a new class and feeling so out of my element. Last class we practiced drawing each other, every student taking a turn modeling, and the work I came out with isn't necessarily work I'm proud displaying. But I think it's a solid jumping off point. I'm trying to approach this with as little hesitation as possible and just diving right into the paintings. My professor always says not to be afraid of making shitty paintings and I think this quarter I'm going to have to finally embrace that.
acrylic on gessoed paper
oil on gessoed paper
acrylic on gessoed paper with medium
I tried working in a couple of different ways to try to get used to working with the different mediums but there's definitely a learning curve. I put those pieces away for the weekend and didn't come back to them until today. My printmaking class on Mondays and Wednesdays isn't until 5, which basically gives me an extra day on the weekends to get work done. I decided I should do some practicing before class tomorrow. I pulled out my multimedia sketchbook and gessoed a few pages, looked for some references on instagram, and sat down to practice before breakfast this morning.
acrylic on gessoed paper
As I was hoping, the more I practiced the better I felt I was getting. And I started to have fun with it too. My professor asked me how I was liking it last class and, because I'm honest, I said "I hate it". I'm happy to say I don't hate it as much anymore. I'm still trying out different techniques, though. I attached another piece of paper to the one pictured and decided to paint over it with some acrylic medium. Now I'm waiting for it to dry to see if I like painting over the smooth surface of the medium versus the chalkiness of the gesso. Later I'll test out oils more too.