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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

I'm really good at painting mud

Tonight, I went to my first painting class. It is offered to cancer patients over at El Camino Hospital. The class is free and the materials are free. Can't beat that deal.

The teacher is this very funny French lady with a name I can't understand but will try to get the next class. She is also very patient and a good teacher so far.

There are so many people in the class - about 12 or 14 - all women and one man. They are so friendly and funny. I felt comfortable right away. They got me set up with an easel, paint brush, canvas and paints. The first thing I had to do was paint the canvas tan. I was really good at that. Maybe I have some talent I thought? I can paint a canvas tan. I discovered that this was because our teacher likes the impressionists and they were poor and couldn't afford bleached linen canvas so painted on unbleached "tan" linen. Now we have bleached, white canvases and paint them tan to similate being poor. hmmmmmm.

Everybody is painting the same picture - a beautiful landscape of river and trees with autumn coloring. How can I paint this I thought? The teacher assured me that I would. She came and helped me draw an outline with chalk on my tan canvas. Then she mixed up a very dark, murky blue and painted in part of the river and a very dark, deep green and painted in part of the forest and a very dark, grey-black and painted in the trunks of trees. I think that you are getting the idea that we have to start with dark. Next, it was my turn to try. My dark green turned yellow. My dark blue turned light blue and my tree trunks diappeared altogether. Pretty soon, everything started looking mud color. I think I forgot to clean my brush.

Never fear, my trusty neighbor, Reiko, who has been doing this a very long time helped me re-mix my colors and soon I was painting my tree trunks and bushes back in. Before I knew it, the 2 hours were up and it was time to go home.

Next week, I will see if I can paint lighter colors like orange leaves and yellow bushes. This is all so much fun. I am just wondering how much creativity you will need to understand my impressionist painting.

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