Stop talking and start doing.

This week we have Nancy Stahl and Jean Tuttle, two amazing illustrators who work digitally. We are working on portraits in three applications, Corel Painter, Adobe illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. The image above is work in progress of PT Barnum. He will have some facepaint in illustrator and then will get some gradients and texture applied in the other two programs. Painter is something I was least excited about and now that I have had a little time noodling with some of the Painter brushes, I am  pleased to see that the fight with the application with the palettes and thinking you had to do to get an effect has been significantly modified and simplifed in the newer and newer iterations. I used to use it to create masks for photography (the old, "we only have one decent picture of the chairman and it needs to look different in the various publications we are creating" thing. The Hartford facility is top drawer with the big Epson scanner and three big Epson printers that are filled with ink. All you need to do is to provide the paper. 

Chris Spollen and Dan Pelavin are teaching the third year students so their interesting vision, their work and their sense of humor adds to the roll of the program. Of course, Betsy and Ted Lewin are here for the now settling in first years. They will be thumbnailing books this week.

I am just plain exhausted. I guess my brain has now registered that the work is done, the paper written, the defense given and this is the last chapter of this program. I have had enough...and really just want to poke on my portrait and not have people interrupting me work to ask me what I am doing (I am not inviting this as I am heads down, earphones in), or to talk about their work, their art...when the damned solution for many of these folks is to stop talking and start working. And working a lot. The work is the real teacher here...not the jawboning with like individuals but finding the quiet spot in work that feeds more work, more action, more thinking. The only way to learn here is to pack your imaginary bags and get on the road. The journey is just that...and though there may not be a clear path, there is a path that faith in yourself, automatic writing and drawing, and the permission to just go where it leads you...not staying rigid in your seat. Go with the flow...and see where it takes you. If the work is stale and the content not delightful, go to where you are happy. Then look back, look around, look foward and assess where you are and decide on the next step. I do not believe I will ever be able to see the top of the hill or the end of the path, but the next step emerges through work and observation which is was this program  has given me. Be confident even if it is only in the next step...because that next step is forward in some manner...and sequentially (with the path strewn with images) you will get there...though there is just another milestone step on the journey. The key to all of this is not talk. It's work. If the work isn't done, the small steps are not accomplished and the real learning has not occurred. My thinking is that if you are spending the money for an independent program, pay with the most precious thing you have, your time....and the rewards will be ten fold. If you don't do the work, you get the certificate on graduation day, but you miss the real benefits of the education.

So, stop talking and start doing.

And let me have a moment noodling on the computer....I think I have earned it.