My son Alex made me this notebook the day his class visited another school.
It started life with a lime green cardboard cover and photocopy paper inside.
The kids had to line up to get a teacher to sew the spine together.
I loved drawing, painting and sticking stuff in it.
Who's got a story they'd rather not share? OK I'll go first..
I. Am an Art Failure.
A.F.
I wanted an 'A'. I got an 'F'.
So I tried again. Went back to high school ... when I was 41!
High School Art, then Uni come get me, kind of thing.
I'd need a portfolio, said Uni, for Fine Arts. (There's that F.A. again is that a joke?!)
I signed up for Painting.
Was Printing hard, I asked. You know, from home..?
Pbbt. Kitchen bench, stuff! they said.
(Tick!) Where do I sign, I said.
So in 2012 I did Year 13 Painting and Printmaking. Half a fulltime students workload.
And what did I learn? In no particular order of psychological trauma -
- No matter how much you suck, there are artist models for you
- Don't tell the people you live with how much housework you won't be doing. By the time they notice, you've got assignments to hand in, OK?!?
- Don't wag. You'll only have to do it again when you've got a mortgage
- Pencil sketching is like eating your greens. No wonder kids wag
- Think your boss is scary? Try drawing some still-life's then showing the teacher
- Inspiration is a fickle mistress. At 41 you don't have a lot of time left. RTFQ then start
- You will do things you never imagined like breaking your own parenting rules on the fly (*no children harmed physically*)
- You will look at a lot of in-your-face nudity and talk about it with your teacher. Even at 41, it's awkward
- Life isn't a marathon. It's a series of sprints. Or a year working at your kitchen bench
Here are some photo's of all the food I did not make at the kitchen bench.
And some of the pictures I did.
