I am an artist.
I did not go to university seeking a degree in art.
I never took an art class in high school.
I participated in class art projects in elementary school and loved them!
Then I took one 6 week exploratory art class in 6th grade. It was the first art course I ever remember taking. I remember sitting in front of a paper towel ring sculpture, and being told by a teacher to draw it. I remember feeling completely phony and frozen, unable to put any marks down on paper. I didn't know where to start. I remember wishing intensely that I could put marks, something, down on paper. And I remember being mad, at myself, at the teacher, at my parents, at life, because I could not make marks. The right marks. Marks I liked. I was only 11. And who cares about ugly cardboard paper towel ring sculptures anyway?
Slowly. Slowly. In my twenties I started trying to draw more. I had the desire to draw. I thought I could, with the right instruction, but I did not know how to find it. I bought a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," and did the exercises in it. Doesn't EVERYONE have that book?
Back in the 90's I took one drawing class at the Dougherty Arts Center in Austin where I lived. I was working full time at a law firm at that time, and I quit the art class half way through.
Years passed.
Then in 2014 I started painting. Once a week at a sort of open studio class (at Hobby Lobby, of all places) with an encouraging teacher. That lasted a year until the teacher moved away.
Then I quit.
Slowly. Slowly. In my twenties I started trying to draw more. I had the desire to draw. I thought I could, with the right instruction, but I did not know how to find it. I bought a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," and did the exercises in it. Doesn't EVERYONE have that book?
Back in the 90's I took one drawing class at the Dougherty Arts Center in Austin where I lived. I was working full time at a law firm at that time, and I quit the art class half way through.
Years passed.
Then in 2014 I started painting. Once a week at a sort of open studio class (at Hobby Lobby, of all places) with an encouraging teacher. That lasted a year until the teacher moved away.
Then I quit.
No. Change that...
I "Stopped."
(Stopping is temporary. Quitting is permanent. Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland, 2001)
Anyway, I started again in 2014. Since then, I have put myself through many workshops. Drawing workshops. A pastel workshop. A mixed media workshop. A watercolor workshop. Vacation sketching. Figure drawing. Visual journaling. Multiple oil painting workshops, including plein-air workshops. I continue to focus on oil painting when I choose workshops.
I've travelled across the country to attend workshops with master artists. I've driven to New Mexico half a dozen times to attend drawing workshops at "Cloudcroft Art Workshops." I've driven an hour down the highway to Austin and the Dougherty Arts Center, (again). And the Art School at Laguna Gloria. I drove all the way to Arizona to take an oil painting workshop at the Scottsdale Artist School.
So when people ask how I learned to paint, should I say I'm "self-taught"?
I used to say that. But now? I think not.
My mind has changed over time on using the label "self-taught." It's not a badge of honor. Having people deliver curriculum in an organized way can be a great thing. I wish I had discovered an atelier earlier in my life. I wish I'd had a mentor to oversee a progression of study for me. I do feel like my art education is a little "hit or miss." There are so many gaps in my understanding of art elements and design principles. But I'm not sorry I don't have a degree in art. If I'd gone to a university and pursued art, I'm fairly certain I'd have had to dip deeply into conceptual art instead of learning the skills of drawing and handling paint to create realistic representations of the world. And at the age of 18, as a new high school graduate, pursuing an art degree was simply out of the question for me, unless I wanted to pay for it all myself. I did not have the confidence or the experience to let that idea even cross my mind.
So now in mid life, I'm pursuing art full time, and I'm happy being a representational painter. I strive to gain mastery in drawing but still sit on the edge with my painting between impressionism and abstraction. I'm happy to accept instruction from whomever can give it to help move me closer to mastery.
So I don't know exactly what "self-taught" means, but I don't imagine I'll use "self-taught" to describe myself. I have teachers, I just don't have a degree, and that's just fine.
Peace.
Judi
Anyway, I started again in 2014. Since then, I have put myself through many workshops. Drawing workshops. A pastel workshop. A mixed media workshop. A watercolor workshop. Vacation sketching. Figure drawing. Visual journaling. Multiple oil painting workshops, including plein-air workshops. I continue to focus on oil painting when I choose workshops.
I've travelled across the country to attend workshops with master artists. I've driven to New Mexico half a dozen times to attend drawing workshops at "Cloudcroft Art Workshops." I've driven an hour down the highway to Austin and the Dougherty Arts Center, (again). And the Art School at Laguna Gloria. I drove all the way to Arizona to take an oil painting workshop at the Scottsdale Artist School.
So when people ask how I learned to paint, should I say I'm "self-taught"?
I used to say that. But now? I think not.
My mind has changed over time on using the label "self-taught." It's not a badge of honor. Having people deliver curriculum in an organized way can be a great thing. I wish I had discovered an atelier earlier in my life. I wish I'd had a mentor to oversee a progression of study for me. I do feel like my art education is a little "hit or miss." There are so many gaps in my understanding of art elements and design principles. But I'm not sorry I don't have a degree in art. If I'd gone to a university and pursued art, I'm fairly certain I'd have had to dip deeply into conceptual art instead of learning the skills of drawing and handling paint to create realistic representations of the world. And at the age of 18, as a new high school graduate, pursuing an art degree was simply out of the question for me, unless I wanted to pay for it all myself. I did not have the confidence or the experience to let that idea even cross my mind.
So now in mid life, I'm pursuing art full time, and I'm happy being a representational painter. I strive to gain mastery in drawing but still sit on the edge with my painting between impressionism and abstraction. I'm happy to accept instruction from whomever can give it to help move me closer to mastery.
So I don't know exactly what "self-taught" means, but I don't imagine I'll use "self-taught" to describe myself. I have teachers, I just don't have a degree, and that's just fine.
Peace.
Judi
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