Last week I was in Highlands, NC taking a scientific illustration class and spending time with some of my favorite friends, Andy and Hilary. After hearing about this course I remembered that my friend Hilary was teaching kids 'nature drawing' through her local arts council, so I decided to call her up and tell her about the class. Miraculously, she was able to get off work and sign up for the class! She and her partner Andy spent the week at a nearby campground since they had two, 7-week old chocolate lab puppies in tow. (They didn't allow puppies in the dorm unless they were enrolled in a class)
Hilary and I spent the week drawing with more focus and attention to detail than we ever had before. We both remembered how in college we were encouraged to work quickly, on large tableaux, and without an attempt at direct representation. When we picked up our 3" by 5" scraps of paper and were told to draw any object we wanted, to scale, it took a while to shift into "meticulous mode". Hours flew by like minutes, and both of us ultimately got into it. With a total of 9 students, our class was small enough to participate in group conversations and have lots of time talking with the instructor, and we were able to hang out after hours since we were all staying locally. We set bug traps after dark and drank beer using our finds as subjects for illustrations. The Highlands Biological Station has a summer camp feel to it, and I think everyone in the class regressed to a happy, curious time. Everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy the class and felt inspired enough to choose projects that they wouldn't have before. I spent most of my time drawing from a microscope, for example.
So now I am back in Knoxville and still have the drive and inspiration to draw 8+ hours a day, but it simply isn't possible. Having a 2 year old running around really destroys any chance of focusing, and when nap time rolls around all I can think about is the mess in his wake. (Today Fox squeezed an entire bottle of sunblock out on the carpet in my bedroom, and I didn't know it till I slid in it. He painted the door jam, threw a perfectly good push up pop down the vent, and tried climbing up the chest o drawers.)
Since Fox was staying in the safety of his grandparents houses I was able to relax a little bit and get some work done in that class, and I realize more and more how lucky I was.
As I am still in "settling back in" mode I haven't been able to work on any cool projects or pictures. Hopefully next week will be easier.
Ohyeah-
My neighbor, Lee came over today and told Jason and I about how he had pulled a drunkard's tooth, once.
He said, "I went over thar an he id been a-drankin at Listerine warsh an he'as all drunk. We made em shuv is hands in is back pockets while I put my knees on is shoulders, an another guy held is jaw down while a differnt guy yanked is molar-tooth out with a pair uh pliars. After it uz out I told em to go ahead an take em another pull of at Listerine, an he said 'ok, Lee', an he ended up givin me ten dollars for it"
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