Drawing a Model

Henna, 2007, pencil on paper, 24 x 18 inches

It was time on Saturday to dust off my drawing materials and skills and put them to test after three years of no practice. I recently enrolled at the Art Students League of New York, a place I have always had my eyes on since a junior in high school. As a student in an Hartford public high school thumbing through the pages of the Art Students League catalog in hopes of being there was a far far dream. At that point I did not have any plans on moving to New York. But I wanted to be part of the League, and reading about the who's who in American art history who attended the school during it's hey day made me more determined to make it there some day. At first I thought it was a four year college and I was ready to apply until I found out that it was not. I needed to do my undergrad somewhere else since the League it's a learning place for artists to feed from each other's talent and intelligence, without the grades or degrees. The League to me became more of a myth through the years. After moving to the city I had set my mind to take a couple of classes there. But due to intimidation I didn't. Through working for Kremer Pigments I met a few of the students who took classes at the League, a bunch of dedicated and very talented young artists who want nothing more than to learn about and fine tune their craft. Intimidation aside, a couple of weeks ago I made the phone call and gave my check card number and had them add my name to the roster. After a few years of dreaming about what it would be to study at the Art Students League, I'm now one of many eager students wanting to expand and challenge my skills. The drawing above is the first of many to come.