It's Happening: Get Your Art On
By Julie Perine on June 07, 2015 from It’s Happening
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I remember sitting on my grandparents’ couch, making my best attempt at drawing Chip. Or was it Dale?
When I finished creating my cartoon character, I folded my paper and sent it off to some contest I had seen in a Reader’s Digest magazine. I addressed the envelope, slapped on postage (6 cents; I just Googled it) and asked my parents to mail it. A couple weeks later, I was one excited little girl. According to correspondence which had arrived in our mailbox, I had been selected to apply for some art school. Of course, I found out later that everyone who entered their makeshift art contest was "accepted."
For the next 40 years or so, I accepted the fact that I was no artist.
Ask my kids.
When they were little, I tried to draw them pictures but they could never figure out what they were. I stuck with stick people, trees, flowers and cats. Their pointy ears and whiskers make them pretty recognizable. My doodling has pretty much been limited to making ovals - you remember, from cursive class - and some of the shorthand strokes which have been deeply imprinted in my brain. “Dear sir,” for example. .jpg)
Although I admire artist types - including my mom and a couple of good friends - who can sketch or paint anything from a beach scene to a sunflower, I’ve never really tried my hand at it - and for good reason.
Until last week.
Some of the gals at my church arranged for a group of us to take a class at The Starving Artist Studio in Clarksburg. When I found out we were painting an outline of West Virginia - with a starry sky above and flowing mountain stream below - I could only imagine what my finished product might look like. But hey, I was surrounded by people I love being with and we were listening to the John Denver station on Pandora. A recognizable painting would just be icing on the cake.
Each dab of paint provided by our instructor came along with instruction and to my surprise, those instructions weren’t that hard to follow. While listening to tunes by Billy Joel, James Taylor and other mellow recording artists, my fellow students and I loaded our brushes and proceeded to stroke, shade, dab and blend, By the time Peter, Paul and Mary sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” our canvases were taking shape. They didn’t all look exactly alike, but that - our teacher said - was the way it should be. It wasn’t just about skill level, but also personality. Such was the case with the paint palettes. At the end of the class, some palettes were intact - each color taking up its own little space. Others were quite messy - with hues all askew.
To anyone intimated by the concept of creating art, I recommend The Starving Artist or a similar paint instruction class. Explore your artistic self. Find a new hobby. Turn on the music. And have fun. You will probably be surprised by what you can do. Even if you’re not crazy about your finished product, your messy paint palette can always double as an abstract.
Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter.
More "It's Happening" HERE.
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