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“Boston Public Garden, Oil Sketch”

Hi <<First Name>>,

Greetings from Boston! I hope this email finds you well! I am home for the summer and am reflecting on all the learnings in the last trimester of school. It was such a fast moving and intense trimester, that I got behind on emails. For that I’m sorry, I’ve missed connecting!

So there’s a lot to share about school, and some current work! And I am planning to have another summer art sale and will be emailing soon about that as well.

First, I want to thank you for coming along with me on this journey! It’s hard to believe I’ve finished the 1st year at Florence Academy of Art (FAA). I appreciate all your support along the way, it has meant SO much.

Getting ready for my final critique of the first year at FAA!

You’ll see I ask lots of questions below. I love hearing from you and learn a lot from your questions So please feel free to share on anything.

Do you recall a time you worked very intensely on something? A work project, a fitness goal, changing a habit, learning something new? What was it like for you? Reply here and let me know!

Working so intensely at FAA was extremely challenging at first, and there were days I felt like I was making no progress. But I found through doing the daily work, showing up, step after step, and just doing it, that small changes happen. And those small changes build over time.

Below is my first project from the spring trimester: a charcoal drawing from a white plaster sculpture of lips. I worked on this 3 hours/day x 5 days/week for at least 3 weeks. Like all the projects, it took patience, studying, adjusting, looking again, making more changes.

They say it’s the challenging times when we’re out of our comfort zone that are the most rewarding of our life. What’s your experience? Reply here!

This was definitely the case in my next project below! It was my first time trying to draw an accurate portrait. I worked many many hours and weeks on this, with lots of ups and downs! But it was also the project where I had the most learning.

Interesting how our mindset can really impact how an experience goes for us. A teacher observed that I had gone into this portrait drawing above with the mindset that it would be hard and challenging. And you know what? It was. That alone was a huge learning.

What’s really cool is I learned that lesson and the next project below went so much better. I went into it telling myself I’ve got this! It made such a difference.

Although I didn’t finish it, I got very far in two weeks. The fastest drawing I’ve ever done. On previous projects, I had a lot of doubts, and was often erasing and re-drawing. Only to realize it was okay the first time. But I had to go through it to learn it.

Have you every worked hard at something and discovered you could do something you previously thought you couldn’t? Let me know here!

I’m finding that to be true. I had very little figure drawing experience before starting the program in Florence. But I’m finding through throwing myself into this intense level of study and practice, and sticking with it day after day, it’s starting to come.

Below is one of the earlier drawings I did from the first term. And then my final 4 week model pose drawing of the year. I am amazed it is possible to learn something that seemed beyond me.

“Alessandro, Charcoal on Arches Paper”

So how might this type of classical training impact my regular painting work? This was a great question a friend asked me and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on that. And one answer came by way of this sketch below:

“Sunday to Sunday Cafe, NYC”

It might not look like much, being so unfinished. But I did this sketch above in 5 minutes while waiting for an uber. A year ago, I couldn’t have done that. The classical training is helping me see more clearly, and my hand to follow. A lot more learning to go, but it’s a start. A couple more:

“Wysteria, Bardini Gardens, Florence”

“Barcelona”

Next up: I’m planning more outdoor painting like at the top of this email. Also more sketching, as I’ve seen it’s key to learning. And as I mentioned above, I’ll be in touch very soon about my summer painting sale.

And please be in touch here if you have thoughts or questions!

Best wishes,

Ellen