The struggle is real!

As an instructor, I see a bit of a different angle of the art making process. 

Daily, I see many students going through the ups and down of art creation.

I am acutely aware when my students struggle often bringing the to the point or frustration. They want to quit, they sigh and make grimacing faces. Some need to step away, others are brought to tears and all over art. I see and feel the ups and downs. I hear sighs, see the lightbulb go off and find a lot of discards in the trash. 

Our inner voices tell us…

This is awesome

This is tricky

This is sh*t

I am sh*t

This might be ok

This is awesome

….and again the cycle continues

I understand the personal challenges and how monumental they are in that moment. I think most people think its going to be easy and they are all going to leave the classroom a master. Artists seem to be a lot harder on themselves while in the pursuit of perfection than most do in the rest of their lives. We all battle deep inner voices, fight with the material and techniques and try to cram into our memories new lesson information. 

At times it feels like its laughing right in our face, this is supposed to be fun, at least smile back.

Know that you are not alone, we all go through this. You can’t hold onto any one moment, in this dance. Whether you are the best artist in the world or the worst, the struggle continues. C’est la vie. In our artistic practice, the only constant is change because of this we are always having to move forward and grow. Growing in our art skills and vision on the drawing pad, canvas as well as within. The most important thing is to show up, stick with your practice and you will push through. Trust the “artistic method” and trust yourself. You can do it!

At Atelier Artista, we believe the best thing you can do for your art is invest in your education. Put in the time and practice and in the long term you will reach your goals.

New classes are listed and starting up in 3 weeks.

We also encourage you to drop in for figure drawing, we host three nights a week and have a brand new bulk buying option here:

https://www.atelierartista.com/product-page/10-drop-in-figure-sessions

EPISODE 54 back to the studio

Classes start in 2 weeks!!!

visit http://www.atelierartista.com/2017-courses-list

and get your spot in the class of your choice before it is too late!

That time of year.....

That time of year is quickly approaching. Back to school = time to make art!

Atelier Artista just did a newsletter mail out to ensure all those who want to sign up or get on a waitlist have a chance. It is first come first serve and we already had a few email sign ups for waiting lists this morning. So get on it and spread the word.

http://mailchi.mp/4a154b9dca67/its-that-time-of-year-again-back-to-school

We also have a new shipment of plaster casts on its way for Atelier students to study from in the fall to add to the ones pictured below. Exciting.

See the unpacking of the shipment from Italy in the you tube video.

Atelier Poster Deigns

Created a variety of poster Designs for the fall semester at Atelier Artista. I just sent my files off to the Printers cant wait to start passing them out. Take a look:

 11 X 17 posters for the various art stores, Swinton's , Sunnyside and more.

 Here is a weird size 12 X 24 for the signage outside the studio.

Postcards for those who want to carry the information away with them.
Website currently updating in process.
Google calendar updated until 2018.

Did he just say Free?!?!?!?

I definitely did.

I am super excited about the official opening of Ateiler Artista this Friday from 6-10 pm at Suite #410, cSPACE King Edward 1721 - 29th Avenue SW.  Since february is a tough month following the holidays I decided to offer all of my classes in February for FREE!

Come to the opening and chat with me about availability and then come make art!

Click here for the promo video

Speaking of employment…...

Speaking of employment……

Currently, I am helping out at Brendan McGillicuddy's studio helping him fabricate a large sculpture piece for the Alberta Biennial. We have just a few days left to get this massive undertaking complete. It's fun, I get to do some hands on stuff and utilize my many wood working and sculpture skills. The gruelling deadline and long days really remind me how much value my training has been and how much I love hands on studio work above all else. I am having a great time and can't wait to see the completed work assembled and ready to ship to the show that opens to the public this Friday.

 Here is the team as we carve away the individual pieces for the sculpture.

I began teaching my Alberta College of Art and Design Drawing 1 course this week-end. I have a really good feeling about this group, they were open and friendly right out of the gate. Often, on the first day off class makes student feel a bit awkward and uncertain but the confidence level was high an the drawing skills were already above my expectations. I usually look forward to waking up early Saturdays to spend my time int he classroom, this also keeps me responsible and out of trouble Friday night.

These offcuts create beautiful lines and remind me of why I like drawing so much.

I have also volunteered myself as the room monitor the free Extended Studies figure drawing drop ins that happen after my Drawing 1 class in my classroom. It is not instructed, this should give me a chance to do some figure studies during the session. ACAD has also offered me yet another course opportunity this summer, and this time I get to teach painting, finally, my dreams are coming to fruition, I have been wanting to teach painting for some time, it should prove to be a nice and messy class which makes it extremely appealing and very fulfilling.

The organization of this clamp rack really excites my inner virgo nature.

I added the LinkedIn app to my cell and finally updated some of the employment information there. I guess it is about time, I do not intend to let this get out of hand like face crack however.

Brain drain, you figure it out.

***My thanks and Gratitude go out to  my friend KT (Karilynn) for going over my current grant application that I am writing for the AFA. It sure helps having another pair of eyes on ones writing and the improvements made makes me feel like I've got a chance. I have never written a grant for visual art o painting. The ones I've gotten in the past have been for media arts/animation. Fingers crossed this new Jury likes what I have to offer.

Week-end update

It is no secret that every moment of everyday I have something on the go. It has been an exciting week as we quickly veering toward the Holiday of love, I am looking forward to the fact that it is a long week-end and I only have quality R & R planned for once!

AYAP
It is our last week of art production Aboriginal Youth Animation Project. Now the participants are under the gun and are finally exhibiting the type of work ethic needed to be an animation artist. Fingers crossed they can keep up the pace in order to get it done. Our screening isn't until March 30th at the Globe but there is a tonne of post production to do before then, during which they are placed in job internships in a related field. It seems like the time has passed so quickly. After the screening day I'll be out of a job and onto new yet unknown creative adventures.

SNOW DAY
I took part painting kids faces for a Snow Day event.  The room was chaos, 10 ft. away was a bouncy castle I have never really seen kids line up and be so patient like they do when it is time to get their faces painted. I was to busy to snap shots of all the other kids, but I did do some really good ones. The girls got snow flake ice princess designs and my personal best the my little pony unicorn pegasus wings around the eyes like a butterfly, my most popular design. The boys got iron man, spider man, and Silas got a Lego Chimas lion guy, special request. As seen above, this is how it looked after a play session in the snow and bouncy castle and after eating and rubbing it a bit, it held up fairly good.


INTRO TO OIL PAINTING
I took over the acrylic and oil samplers at Swinton's art Supply.  It was a really good class, I am stoked to be using my Sundays at Swinton's educating future artists. I created quite extensive notes for an into to accompany my demonstrations. Hopefully the complexity and perceived expense which causes oils to seem for boding has been melted away. For first time painters the full class produced works to be proud of! I look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future, now that they are off on the right foot.

QUICKDRAW EVENING CLASSES
Both of my evening classes are running at Quickdraw Animation Society. The After Effects is full and we went over our cap!  This group has done far better on the first day than any class I have taught before. I must have honed my teaching skills enough now to really propel the students. Maybe it's not me a t all and they just all get the hang of it. either way I look forward tot eh next 11 evenings to see them transform their skill set. I have a really eager group in my Advanced Animation class who have all taken classes before and can create a walk cycle on day 1. The work load for this class is heavy and very technical but by the end they will have a short bit of finished work and a plan with with to grow their practice as animators. The pic above is Duncan our Technical Director repositioning the classroom and Chris Jones one of my students.

I'm off to get fitted for a suit during my lunch break. even when it's break time I've got something on the go. lol.

Ciao for now.

Exquisite corpse - teen cartooning class

I love my Saturdays now that I have to be responsible Friday night in order to be up early in the morning Saturday to teach two classes at ACAD. This week, in my Adult Drawing class, we worked on proportions while drawing a still life.

 We set up two lights and a bunch of stuff from ACAD's still life room.

 I also brought my guitar, banjo, a cow skull and a few other items to add to the collection.

The students did a very good job sketching the objects into space in the proper proportions.

After lunch, I teach a teen cartooning course at ACAD. One of the days activities was my favourite surrealist drawing game the Exquisite corpse. To do this a piece of paper is folded up and passed around so that each panel can't be seen by one another. I gave each student 15 min. to draw the head, body and lower half of a body. Here is what they came up with in the time given.

There are some really good and sometimes funny creative solutions.  A few looked like they were thematic or stylistically planned out, and yet nobody knew what anyone else was drawing. Cool, eh?!