Semester Done!

The final class drawing in Sidney Goodman's class, Sidney loves these crazy set-ups!


Cue Alice Cooper--Schools out!

My second year as a student in the Certificate Program at The Pennsylvania Academy has finally come to an end. I am now halfway through my journey to my certificate degree and then my next step to my MFA.

It feels great to be done, really, I couldn't wait for it to be done so I can move into my painting studio in preparation to my third year--and a summer full of painting. Looking back at this year I feel both proud and a sense of urgency, the desire to push on and over the next hill and mountain. I feel I grew a lot as a painter this year and I am hungry, famished to dig into this summer and paint as much as possible--too re-apply myself to the series of paintings like the commuter paintings and the Super-sad paintings as well as new ideas.
The final one shot drawing in Al Gury's class, about an hours work.

I feel I still need to work on my observational skills and to get better at drawing in service of the ideals of form and light. Also during the year you have to juggle so much else while a sudent/professional artist/ and teacher i ned to catch my breath a bit. I was happiest with the last big pastel drawing and really want to keep at that over the summer as I think its a great but very demanding medium. One thing I will not miss is drawing from teachers set-ups or hauling all my shit around with only what at times seemed the smallest locker in the world for storage. I enjoy all of my classes to a degree, and my teachers are swell, but I just want to do my own ideas now--the idea of drawing another person on a box just makes my teeth grind.

Overall the semester was really a big save for me, it started out with the real possibility of me not even being able to get back after the meltdown of a commercial project--the Martian Comic, which really tossed a hand grenade into my life, but through family and friends I was really able to get past maybe the darkest financial part of my adult life. The classes I really wanted didn't happens but I made the best of it.

I think the school is going through a big change as well with the BFA program, and not all to the good which is unfortunate, but my job is to keep focused and drain every drop I can get out of my time there.

My friends, my DPC crew also make my experience there fantastic and I think without them it would have been really, really tough in spots, having a great group of motivated-like-minded artists and friends is essential I think-, not just in school, but in life.

So with the sun setting on year year two and the new moon about to rise i look forward to mooning everybody in my third year!