It’s been an exciting 6 or 7 months since leaving the teaching profession. In the past my summers were jam-packed because of the limited time, so I think I was more organized. I did what I called “marathon painting”, getting caught up with all the ideas and works that didn’t happen during the school year. The strict discipline I was planning on (paint for 3 or 4 hours daily, exercise, then maybe, just maybe a little house cleaning) just didn’t happen. I was having fun going out with friends, reading, sewing, gardening, travel, and other things but I needed a routine. So I started teaching Art Appreciation at the local community college, started tending to my health (I WAS exercising til I got hip bursitis caused by over-doing it in a water aerobics class and then there was this six month adventure with a chronic sinus infection which will be “fixed” soon) and getting more serious about my artwork. But not giving up the other things in my life.
And it’s not as if I didn’t do ANY art, just not as much as I wanted to. I did paint and draw, I did have a solo show and was part of a group show. I’ve had a few commissioned pieces. It’s just that now I’m going to work on being more disciplined with my art.
That started this week. Here’s a work in progress (WIP) created from an old photograph my father took about 34 years ago. I loved the light he captured hitting the little girl’s face (my niece) and decided to convert it from his black and white into more color.
I remember working with a faux painter once who said “It’s not over til the paint is pulled off” so I’ll show this again when that tape is off for good.
I used oil pastels which is one of my favorite drawing media. Looking at it now I see things I need to work on so posting here really helps.
The Art of Joy A. McGugan 