BOOTCAMP

Bootcamp= Oil Painting Techniques with Victor Wang. 

Going back to school Tues. and Thursday was like taking a time machine back to a surreal universe that I remembered instantly and yet I had forgotten about the details. 

Tuesday was syllabus day, and that alone was stressful enough. Sure, I knew what Victor was talking about. The stress came from getting the kids together with enough time to make it to class with the ‘parking situation’. We were late because I had stayed up the last... I don’t know.... several nights working on another start up project (which I’ll maybe mention later, but probably don’t have time) and woke up at 0730 (!!!!!!!) which is NOT enough time to get the kids and myself ready for school. Andreas was wheezing, so I had to go back home, and get his nebulizer and go back to school to give him his treatment. I left school at 1011 and made it to class about 10 min. late, and LUCKILY Victor was just explaining things in the gesso/preparing rabbit skin glue room and knew all about that, and filtered in with the rest of the class for intros and syllabus requirements. 

I knew what he was talking about as I had taken the class before, but had some questions concerning my damar varnish which I had mixed with “Gamsol”  which had turned cloudy. Eventually Victor said my paintings would crack. Most of the students (I think) didn’t have much idea what we were talking about. I had made my own Damar from the crystal form, but used Gamsol. I started using Gamsol about 4 years or more ago when I was pregnant with my first. By using the crystals, and making my own from a very prestigious supply company for archival products in painting (Studio Products) I thought I was upgrading. By using the Gamsol, I thought I was being safer. Apparently the two don’t mix. 

The question is when will the paintings crack and will I care, and will it matter anyway?And, that is why I’m taking the class again. Today, Victor said to just buy pre-made Damar. Now, that seems simple enough. Why was I stressing so much about it, concentrating on the crystals. (???) 

Thursday (today) everyones job was to sand three masonite boards (both sides) with 200 grit sandpaper. Being the gunner I am, I prepared five, which was plenty. I thought I would try to have more prepared while the materials were available. And also, I feel that after graduating, and ten years experience, that I should do more. Creating more, made me one of the latter to finish. Everyone was outside sanding, and sanding like busy beavers. After sanding we added sizing to two boards (three for me) and adhered the canvas with rabbit skin glue. Everyone was in the work room gluing up and cutting canvas like mad, and it was rather tricky. And even though I am experienced with this sort of thing, I haven’t used rabbit skin glue in say 10 years, and you have to work fast, and I had to re-heat some of the glue to get my second canvas done because it turned jelly like.   

The whole thing felt really weird. And, I suppose it should, but I feel this is the right thing that I should be doing. Generally speaking there seemed to be some students that were kind of like ‘us’.... i.e. the students that were there with me when I went to Fontbonne for my M.F.A. There were a couple of guys who seemed like hipsters making plans for this or that in the loop, an unaffected grad student perhaps, a couple of older women who were trying but pensive, and Victors grad assistant running around trying to please everyone by making the glue, and preparing the boards, and helping out, because after all, isn’t it the best thing to be Victors assistant? Tim came in, in full sherpa hat and introduced me to a couple people, and then I think in their minds they might have decided that I could maybe be accepted. : .... and there is always someone with a strange name in the midst of an art school, like Teddy, or Dallas, or Mihyun, but Tim introduced me to a guy named “Otter’ and I think that one wins for funky names in art school at least for the next few years. 

The thing that is different is that I am in a totally different place now. I don’t really have a great need to find friends, or find someone to connect with and go with to the Loop. I am not suffering from a fresh breakup and feel the need to express my angst. I miss those times. It’s nice to be the observer. The big talk, from what I could gather was that the grad students were all having a meeting with Tim and Victor about how the students are not spending enough time in the studio. Same ol’, same ol’.... scare tactics I’m sure they used on us! However, it seemed to be working because I heard the fear in their voices and it was mentioned at least three times among several different people in under three hours. I just worked and observed, and the funny thing is that I know all the secrets, but would not tell them I think, because they have to experience all this for themselves and then look back later and go, well...that did push me to spend more time in the studio... 

Although... I do miss times at the Fox and the Hound at the Cheshire... that was the best after school. 

Back to School

And by ‘school’, I really mean: BOOTCAMP. The series of events that took place after Ehlmann dropped her camera on my beloved ‘Stephanie with a Unicorn’ painting unfolded like this: 

I went to Tim post accident (the very next day) at school where he instructed me on what I should do regarding the scratches throughout my painting. He proceeded to tell me that I needed to take dig. imaging, and I KNEW that, but, it’s a little hard to find time with two small children running around. 

Right then and there, I knew a change needed to take place. I was looking for the deeper meaning. I immediately went to the registrars office only to find digital imaging was NOT offered. However, Victor Wangs oil painting techniques was listed from 1030-1pm , which conveniently fit into the exact hours the kids go to school on Tues. and thurs. 

On a crazy whim, I signed up for it, after not taking classes at Fontbonne for 10 years. I already received my MFA from Fontbonne, mind you. Just being there though, and talking with Tim gave me a feeling I missed. I always tell people the time spent there were some of the best years of my life, and they were. Being there smelled like school, and learning, and paint.... and it looked dirty and worn (in a good way) as only artists can make it look, and I felt bohemian once again. 

I immediately received the outrageous bill a few days later which notified my of the 15-20 percent late fee if I didn’t pay by the due date which was in a week if I remember correctly. I paid on the last possible day, rationalizing that I needed “something”... something to get me out of this ‘mom funk’ I have found myself in for I’m not sure how long. I rationalized that if I was going to do a series perhaps like ‘Stephanie’ that I would need to re-visit the techniques of the old masters. Now, whether or not I decide to press on with the technique I used for ‘Steph’ still remains to be seen, however, I decided that I should at least know a little more about mediums and such even if I work primarily on canvas. 

The Worst Thing

I have been removed from my painting since the end of November. I took my painting to Ehlmann photography to get it shot for the competition I planned to enter for the Smithsonian a day before the deadline. I tried to shoot the piece myself, but thought it best to try to get someone with more photography experience to shoot the piece. 

I took the piece to a photographer in my neighborhood at the last minute, as she said she could shoot it when Anton was in school. I dropped the piece off, and she worked on it a bit, and she was having some difficulty shooting the piece (as I was). I left the piece with her, and went to pick Anton up, and run some other errands. 

I went to pick the piece up and she said that she dropped the camera on my piece, which in turn scratched the hell out of it in several integral places. I was as anyone could imagine, despondent, and in shock. A month or more later I can finally write about it. 

There were some good parts to this mess however: 

1. I immediately called Tim Liddy from Fontbonne, and he told me to bring it in right away. He assessed the damage and said it could all be fixed. I ended up bringing it in to work on it the following day at the school studios. 

       2.  Tim and my friend Jen said there was no excuse for not knowing about how to modify my image (i.e. digital imaging) to 1920 x              1920 pixels, etc. etc. for the competition requirements. They were right and I realized I needed to take digital imaging. 

3. In going to the registrars office to find out about digital imaging, I noticed that Victor Wang was teaching Oil Painting Techniques and that this class runs at the same time that the kids will be in school. On a whim, in an effort to look for the deeper meaning behind this  catastrophe, I decided the real reason the painting got all messed up was so that I could go and take oil painting techniques again. Essentially, I went into the office to sign up for Dig. imaging, and ended up taking oil painting techniques. What does that tell you? They don’t offer Digital imaging in the spring by the way.


4.  I decided the painting wasn’t done anyway. Tim pointed out several things that I could do ‘better’. I haven’t however, worked on the painting since that second day I met and worked with him. Getting ready for Christmas and the kids being off school, and celebrating Andreas’ birthday, while all great things, kind of kept me from working in the studio AT ALL. 

As far as entering the competition, I Alex helped me to enter the competition with the image that I took which my friend Jen Neuhoff helped me to modify to meet the competition requirements. We entered one image that Ehlmann took as well, now whether that was before or after it was scratched, I am not sure. I left her studio in shock without saying much to her. I hope to never re-live that moment again, in my mind or otherwise. 

I took the pictures posted in a rush, and there is a shadow in the upper left corner, however, you can see the scratches in the landscape, through the shoulder, and in the face, and also in the transparent cloth which goes over the shoulders. Shuddering as I look at that....this may be why I haven't gone to the studio in a while...need to conquer my fears.