College is not enough

For anyone who went to art school, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Old Masters - only to came out with a degree and no painting skills... this blog is for you. 

 I was in my junior year at Otis College of Art and Design when a group of students from Pasedena Junior College transferred into Otis with mad painting skills.  While I was pretty good at talking about painting (I wouldn't give that up for anything), these new students made me painfully aware that I was unable to create the work that I wanted to produce.  I knew I was going to have to find another route to learn the skills I would need if I was going to find any satisfaction in my own work.

So here I am, after life happened and I quit painting for several years, finally setting out on my journey again to learn to paint.  A serendipitous turn of events led me to a small school called Kline Academy.  Located just north of Culver City here in Los Angeles, Kline Academy rests in a small apricot building on Motor Avenue.

3264 Motor Ave, Los Angeles, CA  90034
(310)927-2436

It was founded 5 years ago by Cheryl Kline, petite, gregarious woman who has studied painting around the world.  She wanted a place where anyone could go to learn the classical approach to painting.  I needed a job and just happened to have the odd mix of qualifications Cheryl needed to help her in the office.  I was hired and started immediately doing admin work and shooting and editing video.

I was intrigued by the quality of work I saw the students producing.  Often after just one or two classes the students would walk by me with artwork better than anything I'd produced at Otis.  I knew these were the skills I needed to move forward.  I could see the struggle in my own work and it was getting in the way of the beauty of the images I was trying to create.  I decided I was going to take classes as soon as I could.

The following posts are a chronicle of the journey I  am just now starting.  I want to learn to paint.  You get to start with me from day 1 and hopefully I won't embarrass myself too much by posting my work here for all to see and judge.  But I do want people to see what I have seen...  the progress made by students of Kline Academy, Otis and my journey to learn to paint.  If they can do it, hopefully I can learn to do it too.

Wish me luck...

Jewels