Wednesday night oil painting classes

Wednesday night oil painting classes started up yesterday and it was nice to see all my artsy friends again.
It was interesting to find out that I wasn’t the only one feeling a little guilty for slacking over the summer. But all and all the group was eager to paint and happy to be back in the structure of a class room. I find when it comes to oil painting, watching other people working hard is contagious. We started with a simple still life to shake off the rust!

So..... how do people stay motivated to oil paint in the summer ?

That’s the million dollar question. I have a job that keeps me cooped up indoors all day, so when the whistle blows on a beautiful summer day ,the last thing I want to do is stay inside and work some more. Even if it’s doing something I enjoy like oil painting. I always feel like I’m missing out on something when I paint in the summer.

Convincing myself to work on a painting for several hours in the summer is a tough sell when I could be outside mountain biking , trail running, kayaking, fishing, barbequing or on the beach.

To get back on track I signed up for oil painting classes at the Arts Guild of New Jersey again. Classes start on September 29th and I can’t wait to get back into pushing the paint around. Hopefully I can pick up where I left off.

The early summer work I did at Kean College certainly didn’t hurt as well as the life drawing classes I took this summer, but I didn’t do much oil painting on my own and I’m hoping I didn’t loose a step. Anyway ....we’ll see soon enough. I’ll post my work from class as usual, the good the bad and the ugly !!!

Picasso a behind-the-scenes tour with the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs returns to NYC after more than 30 years!

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs returns to NYC after more than 30 years!

Behold the legendary treasures of King Tut. For the first time in a generation, revel in the splendor of the ancient Egyptian world as you view a dazzling array of possessions unearthed from his tomb, along with antiquities representing his family and contemporaries. Through 10 galleries and 130 artifacts, New York City will experience the world of the pharaohs like never before…

King Tut's chariot has arrived at Discovery TSX. In it's first appearance outside of Egypt, see the chariot that may have caused the death of King Tutankhamen.
See the boy king’s golden canopic coffinette and the crown found on his head when the tomb was discovered
Learn about the extraordinary discovery of Tut’s tomb and the beliefs and funerary processes of ancient Egypt
New scientific findings about King Tut will go on display for the first time in a gallery devoted to the latest DNA studies and other forensic information about his life and death. Read more from the New York Times and USA Today.