First, ahem, Second class.

So I started my first day as a 41 year old coed. First, all of my classmates are around 19 years old and my teacher is around 33. I accidentally missed my first class because I thought it started in February. Then I came to the second class unprepared because I interpreted the course description wrong. How was I to know that the 50% of the class lecture time would be on the same day as the 50% studio time? Luckily a lot of other classmates made the same mistake. Unfortunately WE GOT YELLED AT!!! I can not remember the last time I tolerated someone yelling at me. I had to deep breath to keep from a violent response. I actually picked up the syllabus and concentrated on reading it so I would not come unglued and syllable slap her into learning that she works for us.

Today we learned to stretch canvass over something called a stretcher bar to make our own canvass picture surfaces. Now I can stretch that expensive rolled painting my brother gave me that I could afford to pay the $600 to get it done professionally. Shoot, I could drop the class, master the stretching of oil paintings technique, and charge half price for doing it as a lucrative new business. Wait! That is my business mind taking over again.

Next we learned to prepare the canvass with something called gesso so that the paint will go on the canvass smoothly. Next everything was fun until it went full throttle. We have to complete a self stretched, self primed, canvass painting each week. If we can't do this during class (which I can not), we have to come back to the art room and do it on our own. My fellow students are far more talented and faster than I am, so I'm going to need two to three time the studio time that others need. Our first assignment is to paint a picture of a part of a table of junk set up in the studio. I spent an hour and a half trying to make a vase look symmetrical. I thought this was an intro class! This class is already 4 hours on Tuesdays. I plan on spending all day Thursdays there too. How can these students take more than one class? Most of the kids are so sweet to me probably because I'm as old as their mothers. Tomorrow I buys supplies and get back to the studio for my homework.