It’s the beginning of my last semester at CU. I’m taking a few classes, and have upped my painting hours. I love the excuse to paint for several hours at a time. I’ve started two new paintings that while similar in mood will belong to different series. I’ll post progress photographs soon. I’ve also been toying around with stop motion and photography during the last couple weeks. I’m hoping to make a video this semester. I’d love to explore my ideas through a different medium and gain some perspective.
I’ve been teetering a lot lately, feeling the inevitable pressure that accompanies a closely-approaching graduation date. Some days I want to paint and do nothing else, and others I feel this obligation towards my other interests, ones that involve social justice, education, and human involvement. More than anything, I want to help people. Investing in my future isn’t something I take lightly. I’m a very passionate person; my sense of conviction about one path might overwhelm me suddenly, then be eclipsed by another the next day.
Feeling gloomy about these impossible decisions, I took out my Thomas Kinkade book, a present given to me from my brother many years ago. I don’t mind what art critics might say upon knowing how much I love his idealistic, highly commercial scenes. He’s the reason I started painting. Looking and his paintings cheered me up. And now that I think about it, some of the most influential people in my life have been artists. Artists, and teachers. Art DOES help people. Maybe I’m on the right track after all.
