Yes its true, the day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived and I enrolled at art college! I am taking a Level 2 Diploma in Art and Design, it was a long day and I am not going to lie, I am shattered!!
I arrived for a 10am start, after making my way through the roadwork hell that is Norwich. For some reason every road in Norfolk seems to have roadworks at the moment, well it feels that way anyway!
I arrived, got my name badges and found a desk to sit at. COVID restrictions are in place so appropriate spacing and single desks each. Two of my classmates were on the taster day I attended in August, so it was nice to see familiar faces. I managed to talk to around a third of the other students today, its a year long class so we will all get to know each other.
Today was all about the enrolment and an easy start into the class. We received the obligatory health & safety and course expectations talk then it was onto the day with our tutor. We received the materials pack that will get us started, it has brushes, paint tray palette & palette paper, acrylic watercolour papers, acrylics and watercolours as well as oil paints (new to me and I have avoided to date), pencils; in fact everything we need to get us going. Also within the pack is an A3 hardback ring bound sketchbook. This will become our main note-taking, course ideas and play book, it forms part of our coursework and therefore will be assessed at various intervals during the course. We were shown examples of other students books… and WOW we are going to be doing a LOT of work. All materials are from the UK company Seawhite, so I am appropriately impressed.
On to the work for today and our homework.
The course is aimed at everyone, regardless of experience, no assumptions are made as to our abilities, we are all starting at the same place.
Today is all about paint effects. Use two colours and make marks on a page, with 8 styles demonstrated and then for us to do it. I ended up making around 12 pages.
Once that was dry, its time to cut swatches from them, and stick them into our notebooks, with appropriate annotation. A bit like the “scraps diary” that I do with added wording.
Homework is to use whats left, and make a collage picture. But to also sketch ideas into the notebook with appropriate annotation again. For the picture I can use other materials and mediums to really go for it.
There is a theme here. Do some practice, sketch about it, annotate it. I can do that right?
Longer term our notebook will forge the basis for larger more complete art.
swatches in the A3 sketchbook 
scraps I am determined to use somewhere!
I still need to plan the homework and finish the annotation, but that’s about it for today, I am exhausted and as its Friday night its film night, and I will try not to fall asleep!
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This sounds so exciting, and well planned out [I mean you would expect it to be, but the information collecting makes me excited]! I hope you will keep sharing what you learn when you feel like, it sounds like it’s gonna be an awesome ride!
Thank you! I had a great day, it was as I expected and so much more. I have a lot of homework to do and my son has been nagging me already ?
Loving the circles!! Sounds like this will be a fun class.
Hope you will share what you learn along the way.
I will do my very best to share. I’m so excited and full of ideas and appropriate trepidation too
I can only imagine how excited you must be. I k now I would be too.