Refuge in Art

I have fallen in love here with drawing and painting.  I found an amazing studio where I take weekly classes and attend monthly workshops.  I am learning both techniques and how to think more creatively.  It feels like an escape from the dull, formal city.

I have been learning about light by working on black and white pieces - this is phase two of an abstract painting. 

I love how oil paintings can have endless layers.  I learned how to collage my canvas and use the collage to add both texture and life to a still life.

In one class, we focused on different types of brush strokes.  She taped a huge piece of canvas to the wall, divided it into quadrants, and used left-over paint to just look at different types of marks you can make with paint.

In one workshop, we did 45 different drawings - each one, just a few minutes.  I loved when we used a straight edge and only had a certain number of lines to represent the essence of the figure.