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Sorry, Steven, I should have more more specific (chronic problem of mine, I am always in a hurry!) I was referring to copying the old masters, and the rigors of some of the ateliers I read about here on the Forum (I think Mari DeRuntz is at Mims Studio this summer. Can't wait to hear how it all went for her). I have been buying up second-hand coffee table books and posters to practice from. I also purchased a plaster cast but have not done anything with it yet. It is fascinating to study the masters' drawings, even literally copying with tracing paper when I have little time for much else.
But, for my portrait commissions (very few - ok for now) I have been using photographic references. I have only taken life drawing classes for six months so my experience in drawing from life is very limited at this point. It seems much harder to capture the model in class, live, than to capture an image in a good photograph.
In two weeks I start a portrait drawing from life class with Lou Grasso, faculty member at CIA. I'm really ready to begin!
That fiery hoop scared me for too many years. I guess I had to raise my kids, get them off on their own before jumping through fire! Of course raising two boys alone pushed me through a few hot blazes! Not much can scare me away now, however bumbling I may feel (first oil painting class this summer - what a humbling experience that was! Mud, everything looked like mud!)
The hardest part for me is developing a course of study. Now that I will be in the classroom two nights a week, I feel on track again, after the summer off. I want to make every hour count, making up for lost years I guess. I am always telling my kids that Grandma Moses started in her seventies, so 48 is not too late!
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