Actually signed up for the pastel workshop instead of just bookmarking it
Small thing, but I put the deposit down for a three day pastel portrait workshop in Katowice in October. It has sat open in my browser since April. I kept telling myself I would decide after the next piece was finished, and then obviously there is always a next piece.
The part that made me press send, honestly, is that the tutor uses the same toned paper I do, the grey-blue Canson, and I have wanted for a year to watch someone else handle it live instead of guessing from videos. I have no idea what the level will be like. There is a real chance I am the slowest one in the room and I will spend three days quietly panicking at the back.
But I paid, and it is not refundable, so now I go. I have never taken any proper class in my life, only books and the internet and a lot of ruined sheets. If any of you have done one of these, how did you survive the first hour? I am already thinking about what to bring and it is June.
5
8commentsSaveFollow threadShare
The toned paper thing is a fair reason to press send, honestly. I've been printing on the same grey Ingres for years and I only copped how much I was guessing until I watched an oul fella in Sligo tear a sheet in half and work one bit at a time, no fuss at all. Ten minutes of watching him taught me more than a winter of videos.
As for being the slowest in the room, sure half of them will be there because they're stuck too, that's the whole point of going. The ones who aren't stuck are usually the ones you learn the least off anyway. Enjoy Katowice, and don't spend the three days apologising for your pace.
The part about the oul fella tearing the sheet in half is the real thing, ji. In our work also the paper is not just paper, the handmade sheet tells you how much water it will take, and nobody can explain that in a video. You have to see the hand of the person doing it. Watching an elder work, even ten minutes, teaches the patience along with the technique. That is why we still sit with the young girls while they learn instead of only giving them the design to copy.
That idea of sitting with the young girls instead of just handing them the design, that is the bit I keep turning over. I learned everything from books and videos and there is a certain kind of knowledge that simply does not live in either of those. The handmade sheet telling you how much water it will take, I never would have thought of paper as something to negotiate with, but of course it is.
Ten minutes of watching the hand is probably worth more than the whole three days of talking, honestly. I will try to remember that and not spend the workshop writing everything down like an exam 😅
The tearing it in half is what got me. I have never once thought to do that and now I can't stop thinking about it. Was he working the two halves as the same study, or just using the second one for testing? Sorry, that's me being greedy with the details again 😅
And the bit about the ones who aren't stuck teaching you the least, that helps more than you probably meant it to. I will try to keep the apologising to a minimum. No promises though.