More than I can chew

[shivver]

Okay, I think I've found my limit.


At the moment, and continuing through the first couple of weeks of November, I have the following schedule: calligraphy class on Monday evenings, band rehearsal on Wednesdays, and watercolor class on Thursdays. I attended a calligraphy conference and its associated two-day workshop two weeks ago, which exhausted me but didn't help me figure out how well I'd weather this cadence.

Well, it's been a clear weekend, and I don't know if I can keep this up. Most of the weekend was spent doing homework for one of the two classes and didn't really leave any time for music practice. Granted, I was also nursing a cold so I couldn't have done music practice, but still. I'm enjoying the homework - mostly enjoying the calligraphy; more on the watercolor later - but I don't know if I can keep this up, especially because I haven't written a word in three weeks!! public_call put out a call for a pinch-hit with prompts that are exactly the kind of thing I like to write involving characters I love, and I can't commit because there's no way I could promise getting a paragraph done in a month.

The watercolor class is a half-term class, ending on November 10, and I'm really thinking that I should not sign up for the second half, so that I have time to breathe. The calligraphy class normally assigns one project for the week (which takes me 4-8 hours, depending on how anal I'm being about it), while the watercolor class assigns a myriad of small-to-medium projects. (Example: The homework for this week (class #3) is, add shadows to the leaf we did for class #2, finish the lighthouse painting we started in class #2, create a color palette of the colors in our watercolor set, color three circles as preparation for painting bubbles in class #3, and create technique cards for any techniques we ran out of time to do in class #2 (something like five of them). Oh, and stretch two new watercolor papers for use in class #3. The teacher says she doesn't like assigning homework, but I see no evidence of that.

I'm also not sure how much I'm getting out of the watercolor class. So far, we've learned how to do different types of washes and how to apply paint wet-on-wet, but not much else, and the things we're painting are pretty awful and I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything. I feel like I might do better just watching YouTube videos. Maybe I need a few more classes to get a better feel for what I'm getting out of this. The reason I took the class was not that I wanted to learn to paint, but to learn to use watercolors as a background for my calligraphy. I got a lot more of that from the conference workshop than I'm getting now.

I also talked to a friend of mine who is an established watercolor artist, and he thinks that the fact that I'm not interested in the style (the teacher loves painting leaves and flowers) is making the class a lot less fun for me. He suggested that I trace pieces that I like - he suggested comics, and I'm thinking anything by JohannesVIII on dA - and teach myself by coloring those.

But for now, I am committed to the next two weeks of ink and watercolor caked under my nails, while my writing moulders. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the first chair in my band section quit (she's in three other groups and something had to give) so now I have to play her part, which I can't do, which is why I'm trying to find time to practice. Sigh. See you when I come up for air.

Comments

[eller]

Yeah, it's probably not a good idea to sign up for another instance of a painting class in a style you don't enjoy. I mean, I personally enjoy painting leaves and flowers so I'd probably have fun, but if that's not what interests you at all, you'll have more fun (and more learning success; people learn better when they enjoy what they're doing) doing something else. Actually, tracing and coloring artwork you like sounds like a really good exercise!