After years of just dabbling with drawing and painting, I decided to take on a course of study at The Learning Connexion (TLC) to see if I was any good and could get any better.

I don't know if I am any better because TLC has a very encouraging and uplifting environment. All my tutors have made many positive comments to me, and of course this creates a positive attitude in me to keep painting.

This blog documents my journey at TLC from April 2010 to the present as I work my way through the Diploma in Art & Creativity.

The art pieces above were done over a number of years and were submitted by my husband so that I could go directly into the Diploma level rather than the entry level Certificate course. TLC seemed to like them.

How I got to TLC

For many years I had bemoaned the fact that I had never had any formal training in "art". I had gone to TLC on a work team building 2 day session many years before, resulting in me doing a night class of life drawing but living in Upper Hutt it was quite a hike into Wellington where TLC was located at the time.

In April 2010 I again mentioned this desire at a bible life group we were attending. We were studying 'Paul'  and the topic of gifts and talents came up. My husband told the group that I had a talent that I was not using. That I was good at art. I said that I had always regretted my lack of a formal training and qualification in the area.

The very next day my husband rings me to tell me he has booked me into an information evening at TLC hosted by Jonathan Milne that evening. When I came home I was buzzing and my husband said that I needed to enrol. Student loans were available and there was no reason for me not to do it.

Within a week I was enrolled and on my way.

My first week

My first week, boy did that come round quick! TFAC, they call it Thinking for a change is an introductory week with three tutors who take you through a whole range of exercises stretching your creative muscles. John, Christina and Karla were encouraging and fun, informative and enthusiastic.

I met a diverse group of people from many different walks of life, that throughout my time at TLC would run into, either in the corridors, at lunch or, if our interests coincided, in class.You see, unlike other learning institutions TLC want to encourage you on your creative journey, not their set cirriculum. You have the freedom to pursue the field of art that best interests you or best fits your skill set.

So of the twenty one amazing, creative, different, quiet and loud people I met that week six I have seen on a regular basis over the past two years and appreciated their encouraging attitudes towards each other. I was relieved to discover that my abilities were on a par, at a level with most of the others, because of course we are always comparing ourselves, consciously or subconsciously aren't we, or maybe it's just me or my generation?

Do young people (by that I mean 17-29 year olds) care less about what others think of them. I did, of course, saw alot of my fellow students work that was way better than my efforts, but I only know that we were all at TLC to improve our technique, kick start our creativity and get some art done! So despite our many differences, our backgrounds, our ages, our maturity, and our experiences our common purpose 'allowed' for respect, thoughtfulness and acceptance of others and their creative efforts.

Towards the end of the week we were asked to create a piece of art that encompassed our past, present and future.  What was important to us, what was significant in our lives and where did we want to be or achieve. We then was split into groups to discuss the meanings behind these art pieces. 

This was of course highly emotive and people opened themselves up, in an environment of trust, to then present on Friday to the rest of the class. This was way out of my comfort zone so I went the boring route and produced a collage which lead to a significant piece of wire and cotton in the form of a wing. (I had drawn wings on many of the objects in my collage and hoped that by attending the school I might learn how to fly). 

My fellow students were so accepting and caring that one of them, Lori, gave me a set of angels wings she happened to have at home and thought they would encourage me! They have and continue to be a source of inspiration to me  because of the spirit with which they were given.

Term 1 2010

Not knowing what the classes and tutors were going to be like I choose 3 subjects that I hoped would help me with painting technique.

The school offers so much! Stone and multi medium sculpture, jewellery, bronze and glass casting, photography, printing, computer illustration and animation, oil, watercolour, acrylic and dry media very tempting to try everything and with dissipation, improve at nothing? So a decision had to be made focus or sample? TLC offer the sampling in their foundation year which I chose to skip so I would focus on painting, I thought I could draw alright so to add colour? 

A challenge.

Monday Gary Freemantle – acrylic

To learn blending, glazing, dry brushing.

                                                                  

To ‘surprise myself’, To be ‘unpredictable’, To get vitality, life, energy, action into your painting’

Kiwiana  kitch - Take well known advert material and create a painting along the same lines as Dick Frizzell.

This was a good class to follow the tutors exercises and throw paint around. I seem to be able to get good ideas when given a project or subject to pursue but having any of my own? Not yet. The one thing I’m looking for is a creative muse to give me inspirational ideas. I meet a great group of people that first day all there ready to experiment and share the experience, Shelia was one of these new friends, so encouraging, enthusiastic and with boundless energy, she uplifted the whole class.

Tuesdays – Dan Wilkinson – Dry Media Magic

 ‘There’s more colours in shadows’ ‘Rounding the image gives it more movement’  ‘There’s green in skin tones’  ‘ Use good quality pastel’ Fix with wax, varnish, glaze or hairspray’.

Dan is an enthusiastic and caring man with a zest for life, I find his exercises harder in one way ie: they ask for more of your feelings,  easier in another, pastels although messy offer a range of colours that you use in their original form and don’t have to try and mix like paint.

Thursdays – Catherine Hayes – Faces Hands and Feet.  

What is the hardest thing to draw? In my opinion the Human form.

So many things to remember  like male bones are closer under the skin and muscles,  Females have a layer of fat, don’t I know it. Eyebrow bones are more prominent in men. The male eyebrow is closer to the eye to keep dust out of the eye while hunting . The female eyebrow being higher for pre verbal communication with babies.  A lot of woman have infantile feature to be more appealing to men. Men have a larynx and more jaw bone.

Bottom of the ear lines up with edge of nose, the ear is like a finger print no two are alike.

The corner of the eye lines up with edge of nose. The centre of the eye lines up with the corner of the mouth. The nose and ears keep growing as we age because they’re cartilage not bone.

A face’s width is approx five eye widths. The top of head to your eye line is the same distance from the eyes to the chin. The measurement from top of head to chin is the same from nose to back of head.

The length of the palm is the length of the longest finger. Knuckles form an arc, running in parallel. The length of the little finger comes to the first joint of the next finger. Index and ring finger are generally the same length.

What a challenging subject, the beginners of course don’t have to worry about mixing flesh colours we primarily use dry media but the whole concept of sketching from a life model! We don’t, in normal conversation, study our fellows physiognomy, we pick up on body language and expression, but to really look is like impolite starring and our mothers have always admonished us not to stare.

I decided to draw the people I knew, my daughter being the hardest to capture, because you only get better with practise. For the class assessment I decided to sketch each of my fellow students.

At the end of term there was assessment in each class each tutor having their own ways of assessing you. Some were one on one with all the material you have produced in the 10 weeks, or with just a few pieces your particularly proud of, or a group effort where you display your art pieces on the wall and your fellow students have an opportunity to comment.

EXERCISE YOUR COURAGE MUSCLES!  This is so hard, can’t even remember the last time I was in school, the saving grace, this is a very relaxed school but I want to get as much out of this as I can while I’m here, my husband has given me a gift and I don’t want to squander it. So I go home with homework, not liking to start something new till I’ve finished what I’ve started.

Term 1 2010 Weekend Courses

Photographic Inspiration with Andrew Ginther.

TLC also offer weekend courses and I had fun with one Photographic Inspiration with Andrew Ginther. I got a lot of good info but you know what shutter speed, aperture size and ISO details are like hard to get the mind round therefore difficult to retain, and I love taking photos! Thank goodness for these smart digital cameras, although there are professionals out there who say my photos maybe snapshots, I feel by the time you have fiddled around with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO the moment you wanted to capture is gone! And I’m not keen on staged studio shots. So snap shots it is.

Term 1 End Block Week

Hanne Eriksen Mapp -Jewellery  

To use a brand new Milling machine, to imprint patterns into copper or silver and produce a bracelet and/or ring. 

A fellow student who became a good friend, Barbara, and myself turned out to be the only two in the class with no prior jewellery experience and therefore were labelled ‘babies’. Fortunately I was not a complete novice with the equipment in the workshop so I could produce something but I decided not to experiment with expensive silver and chose copper. 

I was very pleased with the feather brooch, could have sold it a dozen times over, and my mother got a copper bracelet for her birthday, purported to relieve aching wrists, the ruby ring was a great exercise in cutting, milling, soldering and setting (the stone).I also had a crack at producing links for a necklace, but ran out of time. I thank the other students in the class for their patient forbearance of my many stupid and frequent questions.

Term 2 2010 - Start Block Week

Dan Wilkinson - Pathways to creativity

The class exercises are designed to help you focus your ideas on where you want to take your life and therefore your art, what is important to you what you can put aside to find  the space for your creativity.

Take the camera on early morning walks with the dogs. I can draw with pastel but not with paint why? 

‘Trust not to know’ Take risks, if you muck it up, go back and keep going.  Don’t care so much about what other people think but find something in each piece to be happy about and something to improve on. 

Not so much housework and TV and to organise things within the house to fit all the ‘stuff’ that art generates.  Love more, exercise more be more organised so things become effortless. Being more comfortable in my own skin. Keep in mind, I have to produce 12 major pieces to complete the course.

We had two successful artists come in to speak to us,

• Lesley Ransom - sculpture  past student .
• Sandy Rodgers – historical artist (social commentary of NZ history).

Wonderful encourager's, making a living doing what they love.

Term 2 2010

Monday – Roger Key – Drawing it 

‘I don’t want to see you drawing a line, draw shapes and tones you are not allowed to use an eraser’.

Black and white crayons on brown paper or black. Look at the negative space and compare positions and distances. See corresponding shapes and don’t assume you know what the body looks like. Foreshortening creates very interesting drawings and the distortion allows you to draw what you see and not let your brain take over.

After exercises with photos, we had a life model

Roger teaches you a new way of looking at things, something we all know instinctively but don’t  think about, the results are impressive and we (the students)  where happily surprised with the very rapid outcomes. I appreciate his forthrightness and plain speaking and his wonderful eye that can pick up quickly what would improve a painting. The only thing we don’t see eye to eye on is I tend to like rules to do things by so anarchy is held at bay. Roger wants to break every rule there is (Don’t do Catherine Hayes class and Rogers in the same term) I think he may be an anarchist in disguise.

Monday afternoon – Robert Frankin – Drawing towards painting

Choose a topic and draw them often. I chose my dogs they are always around and don’t mind my study of them.  Use tension or focus to allow the eye  journey around the piece, do not put everything in sharp focus.

Robert is TLC’s resident artist, known internationally, he is kind, open and so willing to share his immense knowledge. Although he paints what he feels and dreams and I paint what is in front of  me, his ongoing encouragement to look beyond the obvious and not to give the viewer of my art the complete picture (allow them to fill in some of the blanks on their own) stops me from being a nit picking perfectionist .

Tuesday – Dan Wilkinson – Dry Media Magic

‘Trust not to Know’ Robert Frankin

Comfortable with the tutor but not colour paint yet, pastels give me some lovely pieces quickly, I had an old range of pastels that Dan said were ‘a lovely example of 80’s colours’ I chose not to buy new and use what I had anyway. He provides many different live and still life studies to experiment with glass and cloth being a challenge.

Thursday – Catherine Hayes – Faces Hands and Feet

Not a beginner any more but not quite at the next level either, I enjoyed the exercises and having a model every week was wonderful.

- Step back space to get perspective, to look at overall progress.- In a gallery situation people will see the work from a distance first.- Position the easel with natural light behind you. - Really engage and look at overall shapes to get composition right, use a pencil for layout  - negative composition. - Use pencil length to get head shape, eye nose lips and chin position relating head to hands.-  Relate both eye s, eye width between them, another eye width to head width.

100 stroke painting! Working in a team of two you have the task of painting a portrait in one hundred while your partner counts your brush strokes, giving you fair warning when you only have ten left to use. It was great fun, teaching you to not sweat the small stuff, make your strokes long and large, using a lot of paint.

I made a lot of mistakes but enjoyed the whole process, using an easel, prepared board , a bucket, a pallet, paynes grey, black and white acrylic.