A few weeks ago I signed up, very spur of the moment (the night before!), for an online class - "Making Your Mark" through Pikaland's Artist Bootcamp. I'm certainly not the student I used to be, but I think I'm learning some valuable lessons from being a not so great student. Mainly, I'm learning to be ok with being not-so-great. (Or at least I'm trying!) The accomplishments and praise that go along with being a good student, the reassuring little ego strokes, are things I think my ego needs to live with out for a bit. It's good to carry on without the reassurance of success and to wrestle with a bad attitude until it can be improved.
My pieces above were from our second assignment, inspired by a list of what we know and love. I dissected my usual mixed media approach and worked with each on its own. It felt weird but was a really good exercise for me, it showed me how I often use one medium to compensate for another. Instead of working through difficulties with drawing, I'll use collage to avoid the challenge entirely. Not so much learning or growth gets done on the path of least resistance. In the process of circumventing weakness I end up bypassing unknown or unrealized strengths and abilities as well.
