It´s amazing how my attitude towards it has changed since I started my painting classes a little over one year ago. In the beginning, it was a means of meeting people and of practicing drawing, painting, proportions, composition, colour… you name it. A year later, I´m finding myself aiming to solve specific problems I feel I have, like “paint from the inside to the outside”. I´m also doing some “homework” prior to going to class, like preparing canvases with a background before having the model posing.

Having painted the background in a very pink tone, it is also fun to realize how helpful it was for me not to have a white canvas, as it helped me avoid the fear of starting and ruining a painting. I call it the white canvas syndrome.

Yesterday we started a series of sessions with a fixed pose, which means the model will hold the same pose for four consecutive sessions. That allows students to really focus on details, proportions, as well as expression. This isn´t my favourite exercise – I like quick poses a lot better -, but I´m definitely enjoying the challenges it brings me. Let´s see how this painting will evolve over the next sessions.

See more pictures here.