When I was in the process of getting my first undergrad degree, I had to satisfy an Art and Humanities credit. I wasn’t aware I had to take an art class because of the profession I was going into was the medical field so therefore I was obtaining a degree in Biology. I looked online at the classes that would satisfy this credit and let me tell you, it was slim pickings! I had waited too long to get first, second, or third dibs on classes, so I was left with basically five classes. I registered for what was most appealing and that was a random art class.
I was already unhappy with the fact that I had to take a class that I believed did not contribute to the medical field whatsoever. I admit, I went in with a sour attitude the first couple of classes.
The first class all the students were instructed to hold up our hand in a contorted fashion and draw it with detail. We had 15 minutes to complete the activity. I was glancing around at the people surrounding me and saw their hands come to life on paper. The strokes, shading, and blending – wow! These artists knew what they were doing!
It was obvious I was in the very wrong place. My brother was the artist of the family not me. I put my hand down on the paper and traced around it. I remember the instructor came over to me and laughed genuinely asking if I remember the lessons from the last two art classes. Confused I asked what he meant. Apparently, I was in a higher level art class which explains why I had no clue what I was doing.
The first activities I had very little interest in; pencil drawing and drawing 3-D figures. Yeah, I’m going to have to pass on that. My stick figures have suited me my whole life, and so does my square of a box drawing.
Then, something happened. The next part of our class consisted of painting. I thought I would fail at this like the rest of the tasks I had done up until this point.
The first one was just on a sheet of canvas paper. I surprised myself with how it turned out.
The next couple of assignments we had to build a frame, wrap canvas around it, then paint it. Again, all of this was new to me as I have never painted, made a frame, or wrapped a canvas around it. I learned a lot in the process!
The photo below is a picture of the first canvas painting using acrylic paint EVER. Look at those colors! I love the brightness and saturation of them!
The biggest thing I learned was to dive in and try something different! I never knew I would love painting SO much. It’s been nearly ten years since I have done my first painting and now my home has it’s own arts and craft / painting area!
What hobbies or things would you encourage other people to try? I am interested to hear! And, maybe someone else just needs that little boost of encouragement too!
Thank you for reading!
Chelse Martinez
The blog of chelse leigh 