Weekend Prep

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I'm taking a sketchbooking workshop class this weekend at The Art League in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. It's taught by Susan Abbott, whose paintings of Vermont and India are amazingly alive with color. (And besides, what better excuse to get more art supplies? ;) Actually, I'm being good -- I'm only getting a few brushes and a roll-up case to hold everything in. I pretty much have everything else I need already. I've never participated in a workshop before, so I'm hoping this will be fun -- and that it won't rain too much when we're outdoors. The only other time I've been in Old Town was on a trip to D.C. last year when we biked from Crystal City south to Alexandria at 7 a.m. on a Sunday -- so everything looked tempting yet nothing was open. Hopefully I'll experience it more fully this time. Plus, the cherry blossoms look to be in peak bloom, so with any luck we'll be able to stop by and see them on Friday as we're driving down. And no spring trip to the area is complete without a stop at Behnke Nurseries, so that's in the plan, too, if all works out!

I've been reading back issues of The Artist's Magazine and American Artist that I bought at a garage sale a few weeks ago -- they're entertaining as much for the peek they provide into the culture of the low- to mid-range art world as for the actual how-to articles in them. The whole workshop culture is fascinating -- I guess some people go from workshop to workshop following a particular artist all over the world. It reminds me a bit of the crafters I'd encounter when I was selling my greeting cards at art fairs -- there are many who literally just drive from show to show when they're not creating their work. It practically begs for anthropological study!

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2 comments

  1. Never done a workshop, unless talking with my mom, who went to many and taught a couple counts. Good luck! It sounds like fun and Alexandria will be much prettier than here.

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  2. Hope you get a lot out of it. I wonder what the makeup of your class will be like...

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