Art class thoughts & reflections

Yesterday night, I went for my second class at NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) and left feeling extremely inspired and happy. I posted a story on my Instagram talking about how happy and proud I felt last night, after receiving countless amounts of praises from my art teacher and classmates on my drapery painting. It felt almost surreal when my teacher said he wanted to take a photo of my painting, having everyone gathering around, praising and applauding my artwork. 

  

Me being an overthinker, I started wondering why this could make me that happy and I think it's because with art, I've always felt like I'm not good enough. In fact when I received my first praise of the night, my first response was, 'really?'. #selfdoubt 

To be honest that wasn't the first time I'm painting drapery. The first time I attempted drapery was the background of my first oil painting, and as you can see, it's not very good. I really didn't know how to go about painting it, so I spent time watching sped up videos of people painting drapery and read tutorials on how to draw folds in clothing. I started observing how shadow and light hits my blanket at night, thinking about how I can replicate that in my painting. I think I grasped the concept of it when I was painting her blouse and that was when drapery became a lot easier for me to break down and recreate. 

I also practiced the concept through my drawing and other painting practices. So long as there's clothes, there's an opportunity to practice. 

A few of my classmates also have experience drawing drapery as they attended my teacher's charcoal drawing class, but they didn't do as well as I did (smh lol kidding). Throughout the lesson they kept complaining about drapery and how they don't like to paint it, which reminded me of the 4 components of learning my art teacher taught us yesterday. Intellectual, visual, physical, and emotional. I can't believe I remembered it considering how sleepy I was in class. Although my classmates had the first 3, they were missing the 4th one. 

I personally find drapery extremely fascinating to paint, how it can transform a flat and hard surface into flowy, soft fabric. I think that really helped me make huge improvements in my drapery. So from today onwards, I'm going to try and enjoy drawing and painting hands....... Because I hate it and somehow it feels like I can never get it right. 

So far I am enjoying the classes, everyone is so nice and friendly, and I really like my teacher because I feel like he is the only one who understands what art means to me. In the first lesson he said something that stuck with me deeply and I even mentioned it to my boyfriend because I wholeheartedly agree. He said that everyone is an artist and we are all born with this talent. I like his constant reminders to have fun, be in the flow, take breaks, and enjoy the process of learning. 

"Happiness is not something you have to achieve. You can still be happy during the process of achieving something." - Kim Namjoon 

Yesterday was the last class for our first monochrome still life painting which we were supposed to complete at home. My teacher said I can take photos of my progress and ask him any questions. I'm so happy I made this step to enroll myself into this class. Having someone support your dreams and guiding you in your journey feels so good.