Jon Gnagy Learn To Draw set

Over 30 years ago I started my Art education and I’m still working on it. Since through High School my major was in music, (I was a trumpet player, saxophonist and conductor), I didn’t discover until my mid-20′s my talent for art. Having bought a Jon Gnagy Learn to Draw set as a birthday present for Stephen, the son of my friend Roberta, a few days before his party I tore off the wrapping paper and began my art career. That night, I found what I’d never found in 10 years of musical training. I felt as if those pieces of chalk, pencils and paper were physically part of me and I was now complete.

After putting my sons to bed each evening, I’d pull out a wooden board and set it on my dining room table and begin my classes again. I remember the serenity I’d feel. It echoed the quiet contemplation I’d get as a child coloring within the lines with my Crayola crayons in my coloring books and later with Venus Paradise colored pencil kits. I remember, as a child, the enjoyment of trying to create volume by shading with darker and lighter values of the same colors. His lessons helped to explain what I’d been searching for.

As a child I believed that you couldn’t be an artist unless you could draw a straight line. Using loose-leaf paper as a guide I tried endlessly to draw straight lines freehand with a pencil and failed miserably. With this fact I knew I couldn’t be an artist and this freed me to just do whatever I did. It wasn’t art, it wasn’t creative, it was just me.

I used rulers.

And yes, I bought another Learn To Draw kit and gave it to Stephen in time for his party. We both ended up as art majors in college.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Art Education, Art Technique, Being an Artist, Traditional Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.