The Academy is frikin amazing, of course. Definitely one of the wisest decisions I ever made. As far as learning goes, it has already been like 2 years of VCU compacted into 4 weeks, probably more (not to rag on vcu). It's also been pretty intimidating at times since there are a TON of talented students here. Florida humidity really sucks!
Here's Barron Storey talking to students after a demonstration. He's the best there is at what he does. And what he does is absolutely insane. As informative as he is entertaining:
Jon Foster painting Tesla during pink shirt wednesday. Definitely one of my heroes and also just a really good guy:
Mark English demo with instructors Doug Chayka, John English and Brent Watkinson in the background. We've been learning so much from these guys that it occasionally makes your head hurt:
Gary Kelley doing a monotype (and it looks like Brent is throwing up in a trash can):
First assignment. Everyone was limited to flat shapes and color with no rendering. This was so we would focus on assembling an image with the focus on the 'design' of the piece, as to not try and cover a shitty composition with nice drawing and or other 'tricks' (not that that would work anyway). It's simple, but it was actually pretty difficult. We're given the assignment on monday and its due the following monday morning where it is critiqued by the new guest artist and faculty. After all the process work, most of us don't start on the final until friday or saturday. Done in acrylic and about 95% done:
Pratt gave an impromptu painting demo today and it was awesome. Sargent study I was doing this week during lecture week:
The assignments start up again tomorrow with Chris Payne. Ta ta for now.
