I've often said that I've been an artist ever since I was able to hold a crayon. It's true. I love to draw. And I'm an emotional artist too (is there such a thing as an unemotional artist?). When I was four I got mad at my stepfather and tried to write angry things about him on my bedroom wall with a blue crayon. I was no longer the only one experiencing anger. Oops.
I drew with crayons and markers, enrolled in after-school water color classes, I cherished my colored pencils and oil pastels, and I took several ceramics classes (although I wasn't that great at it). In high school I signed up for art class so many times that they had to rename some of the courses so I wouldn't have too many redundancies on my transcript. True story! I got to set my own assignments and choose the mediums I wanted to experiment with. I played with acrylic paints, conte crayons, graphite and charcoals. I fell in love with charcoals. It was there that I learned the most about color and shadows, form and structure.
It was only natural that I would later attend art school. One of my favorite instructors was an amazing illustrator named Dave Danioth. He taught me how to manipulate mediums and not fear color. I got to play with scratchboard, markers (the good kind), screen printing, india ink, gouache and bleach. Yes, you can paint with bleach.
Now here comes the confession...
I've never, not once, ever, used oil paints. Why? I'm terrified of them. All of the chemicals, the long drying times (I'm extremely impatient), the impossible stains, the inability to successfully use water, etc... Aside from all of those (completely legitimate!) reasons, I'm also scared that I won't be any good at it. Silly, right? Who cares if I'm not good at it. There are lots of things I'm not good at! There are plenty of crafty things I can't do! (Shut it, Sam!) But people have been painting with oils for centuries - artists have been painting with oils for centuries. Most of my favorite artists and many of my favorite pieces were executed with oil paints. I think I would be very upset if I weren't able to somewhat successfully render with oils.
Last Fall (2010) I took a course on Contemporary Art and Design. We studied Rothko. I was inspired. That Christmas I asked my mother for some oil paints. I've had them for over a year now and haven't touched them. Still scared.
But...
I've been snowed in for a week now. Due to a broken leg, I haven't been able to leave my apartment even to play in the courtyard. I've left the building precisely once to retrieve necessary food staples at the corner mini-mart and I thought I was going to die. I've caught up on all of my TV shows, cleaned my kitchen, posted a new blog and am currently working on a second post, I've painted my cast (with acrylics), re-painted my cast (again with acrylics), grudgingly watched a documentary that a friend has been pestering me to see for nearly a year now, checked my facebook approximately 2,343,751,389 times and I'm bored. SO BORED. So this weekend I'm going to set down a drop cloth, open a window, grab some paint thinner and brushes and break out my oil paints. I'll post pictures later... or not. Either way, I'll let you know how it goes.
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