Just Thankful
 

I have learned so much here! More than I ever have before! Thank you Karin, Chris, Cynthia, and everyone else and Steven for your thoughtful critiques!

I have a B.F.A. in painting, which actually translates to a huge debt and an enormous waste of money.

My teacher only taught us two things: to stand as far back from the canvas as possible while still touching it, and also never to get tight with brush strokes... really I learned nothing.

But every day I come to this site and I learn something so invaluable! I am amazed at the generosity of all of you! And I thank you! Some days I come to this site and what I have learned touches me so much that all I want to do is create something so great to show you all and make you proud! :D Hopefully this won't be too far in the future!

Anyway, I am feeling so grateful and just wanted to let you all know!

Thank you, and best wishes to all!
Carolyn

Oh shoot! I forgot to thank you Marvin and William. I would really give my left arm to take a course from you guys! Thank you so much for telling us your secrets! Some day I hope to learn from you in person! :D

Carolyn,

What a thoughtful and heartwarming post! Thank you so much. It's always wonderful to have one's work appreciated, as I'm sure you know.

It's so frustrating to get a degree in art these days!

You all have given so much to so many out here, and I am eternally grateful!

(O.k. that's enough from me, less typing and more painting!) ;)

Carolyn

Thanks for your sweet comments.
Have to tell you, it was frustrating in 1970, too!

As it was in 1980, also.

I quit my four year BFA program after two years. They didn't teach me anything about working with oil paint but I'm a darn good scrap metal welder, thanks to that program.

I looked around for a place where I might actually get some art training and I ended up doing two more years in a commercial art college where they valued drawing and painting skills. That was a breath of fresh air, though I had to give up getting a degree for the privilege of being taught something worthwhile.

Thank goodness for SOG. I've learned more here in a year and a half than in all those four years put together.

I sometimes wonder where I would be today if my Art 101 teacher in high school had not totally emotionally traumatized me. I never took another art class afterwards. But I don't wonder too often, because I love what I'm doing now.

Ditto to the wonders of learning here!

Remember when all magazines used to run a "draw Snappy" or a little cartoon character and you could send it in for a critique? I received a B+: that was it, I was hooked. Now I am not going to attest for the validity of the "Snappy" test, but it was a great thing for a Junior High student to take.

I did finish my BFA in the late 70

I bet North Light Books would love to publish it!

Carolyn, you have added to the forum as much as the rest of the members. For it is not just the experienced professionals that make conversing on this forum fun as well as helpful. It is always a pleasure to read your posts.

On the subject of education, I had a varied experience. I only have an associates degree since I did not complete the other required courses at the University of Pennsylvania that I needed for my BFA.

You see, I enrolled in a 2 year commercial art college (Art Institute of Philadelphia) and majored in illustration and graphic design. I completed the courses there and got an Associates.

I also enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art for the drawing and painting classes. The Academy has an afflation with the University of Pennsylvania for their BFA and MFA program and you are required to take your other academic courses there. Being an ivy league school you can imagine that the tuition was not cheap.

Since I really cared more about my portfolio than my degree I choose to just register for the courses I wanted and not finish my degree, so I never graduated from the Academy. Even doing just that I have a pretty big student loan debt. Half of my tuition was paid for by Uncle Sam through the GI Bill. I must say that I had some very good instructors, and some... Well, I'll just say they did not care much for the classical style. :)

The one thing I feel is missing from all art colleges are courses in the business of being a professional artist. It is as if they actually do not believe that you have a goal to sell your work and earn a living. I really feel that in seeing the work of some of my fellow students (some even went on to get an MFA) the quality of student work is of little importance to these schools as long as you pay the tuition. So many art students really do not have the skills needed to be a professional artist, even after they get a degree.

At least at the Art Institute they focused on how to work in commercial art, illustration and how to prepare a portfolio (not that they cared much if you actually got work after graduation either.)

If not for the friendship and mentorship of my instructor Jack Martin I would never have made it. His help was instrumental in my preparation to actually go out and knock on doors and get work as an artist. He even worked with me after I graduated to build my portfolio, where the best places were to go in NY, where to have transparencies made at the best price, where to go for work, who to call on.

He really started me off. It was his idea that. I join the Society of Illustrators in NY. It was funny. He said to me, "if nothing else you get to use the bar and the bathroom when you're in uptown NY". If any of you have ever had to use a public toilet in NYC you know that use of a semi-private bathroom is a big plus. :)

It was at the SOI that I saw the work of artists like Marvin Mattelson, Mitchell Hooks, Bart Forbes and others. My own work never made the cut for the annual members' show but I always enjoyed looking at the winners every year. It was from this professional work and in doing illustration assignments that I continued my education.

I am no longer a member at the SOI since I now live too far from NYC to get into the city often enough to make it worth it. But I still try and make it to the annual show. Joining organizations like the SOI and the ASOPA is great as long as you can get to meet other members in person. You learn that these artists you so admire are just as human as you. I will admit to a little hero worship. After all, I think we all tend to be guilty of that from time to time.

Marvin - I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy :)

Well Carolyn, it was nice to share this. I hope I did not get too far off topic. :)

Sharing!
 

Chris and Michele,

Guess we can all share our bad class stories. It's good to see you both have done so well regardless, and gives me hope too! One of these days I hope to make it to a workshop.

Michele,

I too can do some pretty good welding! Felt pretty cool with that big torch too. Although I don't think I'll be doing that again! Could even do some pretty good silver-smithing. That was a nice Christmas for the family.

Cynthia,

Isn't it crazy that some don't know how much negative comments can affect young minds. But through your site, and the work you do, you sure showed your teacher sweet revenge!

Elizabeth,

I am with you 100% about this site! How much I've learned, and even more than that, it gives me so much inspiration to keep trying and do my best. Ah, I too had a little too much fun in college. Ooops. :sunnysmil

Michael,

A huge Thank You for the encouragement, and nice comments! From what a lot of you have said it seems like commercial art would have been a better route to go. Unfortunately the college I went to didn't even offer any design classes, and to keep costs down I stayed in state. I did have a couple of comments in college about my work being more like illustration than fine art. I have a wonderful book sitting on my coffee table about some of the greatest American illustrators, and I really can't see what separates the two worlds.

The worst part about getting my BFA is that I am now HUGELY in debt and don't have the credentials to get a high enough paying job to pay off that debt, but I guess that has been the average American tale for a while now! ;)

The only reason I chose to get this degree was to be able to go to a graduate school to eventually teach. I'm really not sure if I learned any more than I would have by just reading books. Even one of our figure drawing teachers showed us her portfolio one day, which was full of headless bodies! So you can guess, I didn't get much help from that one. It's no wonder why she hated that I spent so much time on the head and face. I've still never gotten over the fact she gave me a B in the course! (But I won't get any further into that one!)

It's so wonderful you had such a great mentor! Guess I am fortunate enough to be finding a bit of that in all of you. I'll try hard not to sound so star struck from now on! :D

Thanks again, everyone, for sharing!
(Sorry, Cynthia, about maxing out on the smileys.)

I agree wholeheartedly! I have learned more from this forum than from any of my college art classes. (I was considered "fussy" for using brushes smaller than 6.) I am always amazed by the SOG artists who are so willing to share their opinions and techniques. A thousand 'thank you's' would never be enough! May Santa fill your stockings with more paints and brushes than you'll ever need!

Renee Price