30 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 19

Day 19 of MY LET'S GET PERSONAL: 30 DAY CHALLENGE ... a talent of mine

I started classes at my local community college in September and by December I'll have a web development certificate - certificate, meaning I'm bypassing all the liberal arts classes and just taking the core classes I need.

The reason why I decided to go back to school is to fill in some gaps. I'm a Graphic Designer by trade, so I know how to design for the web - navigation, usability - but I only know a little about how to make it work ... so after, I'll really know!

My goal, come January, is to launch a couple new services for my DOSSIE-A bride's! YEAH! ... more on that later though ;) ... haha!

Basically, I'm taking the whole 15 credits to get it over with as fast as possible, LOL! My classes are as follows:

Web Design Tools – Flash and Dreamweaver
Digital Media Production – here I'm learning how to film, cut and make movies ... fun!
Video Graphics/Animation – I get to make a ball bounce
Web Design II – I'm learning to build a site from scratch
Painting I – well,  I get to paint :)

So, you say, how does painting have anything to do with web design? It doesn't ... haha!

Since the class Web Design I, was information I already knew, my adviser was generous enough not to torture me by having me sit through it again. I did, however, have to make up the credits. I looked at it as the perfect opportunity to do do something fun - I had to be there anyway, plus I was paying for it so it needed to count!

I decided to go back to my artistic roots. Sometimes it's nice to step away from something to get a better perspective and allow yourself to grow as an artist. Now, I can never be away from my computer, but this allows me to take a visual break, if that makes sense.

Now, I've never painted before, and it hasn't been since '96 that I actually drew something (other than one, 11 week semester at college - but that was eight years ago!). So, I was a bit nervous to be in a room full of youngsters - oozing with raw, natural talent.

Needless to say, my first painting wasn't half bad. It's kind of like drawing but with a different tool and I learned - charcoal, paint, mouse - it's all the same really.

This is how it came out...

This is the statue, Venus Aphrodite.

How'd I do? I would love to know, leave your critique in the comments section below!

______________________________________________________________________

Other artists who used this classical plaster cast...

Giorgio De Chirico
The Uncertainty of the Poet, 1913
Oil on canvas

and

Henri Matisse
Plaster Torso and Bouquet, 1919
Oil on canvas