Academics in General
Holy moly cajoley! Last week was pretty busy.
I had two of my paintings in an art show! I felt super cool with my paintings in frames on a wall at a show where serious people looked at serious paintings. I felt like a proper artist or something, and people keep saying they like my paintings, so I'm starting to like my own paintings, and it's quite an experience.
I had been working on these small canvases: 9"x11". They were cheap, which is why I had a bunch of them. My most recent one was begun on a bit of shelf though! I found a shelf someone had tossed, sanded it, primed it, and started painting on it. I didn't measure, but it's roughly 12"x36". The extra space makes such a difference. It requires more paint to get things done, but I like the flow, the freedom, the space. I'm starting to like painting.
I don't know if I ever told you this, but, when I first started, painting was stressful! I was anxious about making mistakes. I was anxious about using the wrong colors or messing up an edge or holding the brush wrong or wasting paint or any such thing. It was a really good experience to work through that and into my current state. Now, I typically enjoy it. Now, I'm starting to understand gradation and forms. I'm clueless about color relationships, but I'm getting better at finding the actual colors that I want at least.
As I look back, I can see how killing the arts in school has killed a lot of character development in students.
I tutor a young boy in math. Like all my students, he's struggling but learning well enough. His parent asked me if I've encountered many students who do fine in all other subjects but struggle with math. I mean no insult to the young man — since I see this phenomenon everywhere — but he's not doing fine in his other subjects. Math just receives the most scrutiny because it's the easiest to learn. Most of my students — and this is a criticism of schools more than anything — struggle with all capacities: math, reading, writing, speaking, time-management, organization, etc. Even if we're just sticking with the primaries — math, reading, and writing — most students are quite shoddy.
I mean no harm in saying this because that's the point of being a student: learning because one has shoddy skills. However, we have set all the standards so very low. I always hear students (and adults) who say, "I'm good with English. I'm just bad at math." There's nothing wrong with being bad at something. I'm bad at singing. I'm a terrible navigator. I'm not much of a cook. Plenty of others.
The problem is when we pretend bad skills are good ones. English isn't some crazy, unreachable skill, but it still requires work — and most people don't do it well. That's just fine, but stop calling shoddy English good. Poetry is even worse, but I won't go there today.
In any case, coming back to art, its absence has crippled a lot of character development. Math sticks around because it's the easiest to evaluate. English sticks around because Americans have to pretend to speak at least one language. Sciences stick around because we think, if we jam enough arbitrary information into students, they'll become innovate inventors. The loss of the arts, however, has crippled our ability to work through unfamiliar tasks.
I really don't get it. When I tell people they need to paint or dance or play an instrument, the response is often, "Oh, I'm no good at art." You're no good at English either, but that shouldn't stop you from trying! Even then, it's a crazy principle to think one has to be good at a skill before starting a skill. Craziness!
In other news, I can't talk about that yet.
In other other news, PIRATES.
I've been playing Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag again. It actually inspired my most recent painting:
It's free enough for it not to feel like realism, but there's definitely sky, sea, and sand. Many have said how much they like it. I may leave it like that, but I feel it needs just a little something more. We shall see.
So yeah, things are pretty groovy. I'm gonna go write something else now.
Pip pip, cheerio!
I had two of my paintings in an art show! I felt super cool with my paintings in frames on a wall at a show where serious people looked at serious paintings. I felt like a proper artist or something, and people keep saying they like my paintings, so I'm starting to like my own paintings, and it's quite an experience.
I had been working on these small canvases: 9"x11". They were cheap, which is why I had a bunch of them. My most recent one was begun on a bit of shelf though! I found a shelf someone had tossed, sanded it, primed it, and started painting on it. I didn't measure, but it's roughly 12"x36". The extra space makes such a difference. It requires more paint to get things done, but I like the flow, the freedom, the space. I'm starting to like painting.
I don't know if I ever told you this, but, when I first started, painting was stressful! I was anxious about making mistakes. I was anxious about using the wrong colors or messing up an edge or holding the brush wrong or wasting paint or any such thing. It was a really good experience to work through that and into my current state. Now, I typically enjoy it. Now, I'm starting to understand gradation and forms. I'm clueless about color relationships, but I'm getting better at finding the actual colors that I want at least.
As I look back, I can see how killing the arts in school has killed a lot of character development in students.
I tutor a young boy in math. Like all my students, he's struggling but learning well enough. His parent asked me if I've encountered many students who do fine in all other subjects but struggle with math. I mean no insult to the young man — since I see this phenomenon everywhere — but he's not doing fine in his other subjects. Math just receives the most scrutiny because it's the easiest to learn. Most of my students — and this is a criticism of schools more than anything — struggle with all capacities: math, reading, writing, speaking, time-management, organization, etc. Even if we're just sticking with the primaries — math, reading, and writing — most students are quite shoddy.
I mean no harm in saying this because that's the point of being a student: learning because one has shoddy skills. However, we have set all the standards so very low. I always hear students (and adults) who say, "I'm good with English. I'm just bad at math." There's nothing wrong with being bad at something. I'm bad at singing. I'm a terrible navigator. I'm not much of a cook. Plenty of others.
The problem is when we pretend bad skills are good ones. English isn't some crazy, unreachable skill, but it still requires work — and most people don't do it well. That's just fine, but stop calling shoddy English good. Poetry is even worse, but I won't go there today.
In any case, coming back to art, its absence has crippled a lot of character development. Math sticks around because it's the easiest to evaluate. English sticks around because Americans have to pretend to speak at least one language. Sciences stick around because we think, if we jam enough arbitrary information into students, they'll become innovate inventors. The loss of the arts, however, has crippled our ability to work through unfamiliar tasks.
I really don't get it. When I tell people they need to paint or dance or play an instrument, the response is often, "Oh, I'm no good at art." You're no good at English either, but that shouldn't stop you from trying! Even then, it's a crazy principle to think one has to be good at a skill before starting a skill. Craziness!
In other news, I can't talk about that yet.
In other other news, PIRATES.
I've been playing Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag again. It actually inspired my most recent painting:
It's free enough for it not to feel like realism, but there's definitely sky, sea, and sand. Many have said how much they like it. I may leave it like that, but I feel it needs just a little something more. We shall see.
So yeah, things are pretty groovy. I'm gonna go write something else now.
Pip pip, cheerio!
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