Week 5 Journal Entry

Journal Entry
Laurie Grawl
07-16-10

This week has pulled a number of drawing skills and concepts together.  Are you finding that taking the time to complete the assignments is challenging, or rewarding?  (Perhaps a little of both?)  When you are no longer taking the course, how will you find time to craw when it's no longer an "assignment?"


Interesting the questions posed for this week's entry was something I was already asking myself. I do hope not lose the discipline I have gained of continuing to improve my art skills by taking and completing this course of study. It has been a great benefit to be held accountable by a teacher making sure required homework assignments are turned in on a specific date.


As both of my children have gotten into the adult, independent stage I thought time would stand still a little longer, which has not been the case. All of us it seems are faced with so many choices to make on how to spend our time. I am constantly reminded that even the great minds of the world have had the same 24 hours in a day to work on what they love. So I hope to remember this fact the next time busyness tries to steal my art time. That the joy I receive when I paint and draw is real and needs to be considered when I schedule my days work.


Also I need balance in my life some place or thing that brings me to a place in the day where my mind and body can rest. Art can be one of those things; like my quiet time I spend every day in prayer and meditation. This can be a time where the creative part of myself gets a chance to be nurtured, expressing on paper or canvas maybe what is happening in my life, or something that has caught my eye just because of its' beauty. This experience has taught me that creating art needs to become a more constant part of my daily routine. How I really need to stop fighting the mind-set that my time spent artistically is a luxury but instead embrace its' real importance, something that myself and others need to understand.