Art Academy

My first night, I went to the wrong place, but got help in finding the new (current) place ...not too hard to find, even though it's in St. Paul. I thought I was going to be late, but I had the wrong time and ended up there early. What a weird start.
So, we started with a technique of using a grid to get proportions right in drawing a picture from a drawing we chose from their notebooks full of choices. I chose a cat that looked like it was blown up from a Beatrix Potter drawing. It still looked pretty far off when I left that first night, but they assured us that we'd "see" it differently with fresh eyes next time.
And they were right. At the second class, I changed a bunch of things, but I knew the face on the cat was messed up; looks kinda evil. I couldn't see what lines needed to be changed. So, I decided to go on to the next step anyway; live with my mistake.
What I like is that I'm not so critical and not so worried about "getting it right", but more about enjoying and trusting the process. I'm up for making mistakes, learning from them, and experimenting, practicing a lot.
Now that I'm inking the pencil drawing, I can see what I could do with the face. This is much easier, more fun than my old ways of trying to get it perfect from the start. I think I'm learning more too. Hey, no big deal!
So, here's what it looks like so far. Is the face problem obvious to you too?