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I LOVE Being a Student!


My bags are packed - including a lunch! I'm ready to tackle all that gets thrown my way - paints, palette, easel, tripod, brushes and other mark making tools, and 6 panels prepared with various underpaintings. The adventure officially begins tomorrow! (Wonder Woman backpack courtesy of my sister in law and LL Bean, vintage Samsonite suitcase from Sal Val, tote bag carries Michele Allen's artwork.)

I LOVE School!

Well, not so much the elementary, middle or high school experience. But when I got to college and was able to study - in depth - the sorts of things that fascinated me (making art, art history, and writing), I discovered how much I enjoyed the simple act of learning.

Stepping onto a ledge, trying out new things, making discoveries, connections, mistakes, having conversations, picking others' brains, learning/adapting/discarding processes. It's a wonderful journey!
And this week I'm stepping back into that role. I'm taking a workshop with one of my favorite artists, Stanka Kordic. I am particularly entranced by how she mixes real life forms with an ethereal sense of space. Furthermore, her edgework makes me swoon, her sense of design is Olympian, and this woman can draw like nobody's business. 

This evening she bribed us with her father's wine (exquisite!), crudities, and a process centric video of her painting, followed by a tough q&a and baring of her soul. I learned that she buries all sorts of meaningful marks into her layers, including scribed prayers/mantras for the viewer, that a rag is her favorite tool, she (also) talks to herself, and that she fully embraces flying without a plan. 

And my fellow students? A humbling collection of talent, I have to say - I anticipate learning just as much from them as I do from Stanka.
 
I've gotten her permission to upload pics during the course of the workshop. You can follow along and comment here - we'll see how I handle flying without a plan (and I'm trying NOT to get intimidated by tomorrow's self portrait session - let's hope Betty, my inner critic, doesn't make a nuisance of herself!)

Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork,
Warmly, Kim 
ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

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