Art Competition Archive

Can't See the Trees for Forest!

A long time ago (30 years or more now) I drew a picture of my five-year-old daughter. I found it the other day and instantly the memories started flooding back. I remembered how she sat there fidgeting, giggling and us both laughing. That poor little drawing brought back all those memories and more.

Now I am retired and my daughter has children of her own. I try to draw every day but find I lack the skills to portray what I see. That saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees". I seem to have it backwards. The detail in the "trees" is missing. I would love to learn to portray my grandchildren and capture their real essence and personalities with these missing details.

The community of the Drawing Academy reminds of the Guilds of the Italian Renaissance. Those schools of would be artisans being taught by Great Masters with pupils following in their footsteps and becoming Masters in their own right is a wonderful tradition to aspire to.

My name is Robyn. I am a wife and mother of one precious 6 year old boy. I am also a disabled person.

All my life I have been interested in art. I took art classes when I was young, but I was never any good.

After being very ill for 3 years, I felt the urge to start drawing. In June 2016 I picked up a pencil and I could actually draw! This gives me an outlet that I use to make other people happy. I draw lots of pet portraits and give them to my friends and family.

Art for Arts sake

I have always been interested in drawing & painting, but was not encouraged into Art as a career... life somehow took over and it wasn't till late in life that I started painting.

Art for me is about being creative and bringing joy & beauty into one's life.

I am not able to attend an art college full time, so it's mainly self-study with books and some workshops when commitments permit.

Learning is & always will be a lifetime process... never too old, never too late, never too smart (clever/skilled) to learn something new & improve.

Drawing Academy sounds great as I've always leaned towards figure drawing & portraits like the old masters...

Lost Flower

My name is Caleb and I'm taking art classes at NWFSC. Art is a fun hobby for me.

My challenges in art are my creativity or lack thereof. I want to learn different ways to express emotion in art.

Drawing Academy seems like a nice place to learn art. So that I can increase my abilities in making art people will enjoy.

The Void of Lovers. A pilgrim's artwork...

My name is José Manosalvas. I live in Ecuador. I always have had a strong tendency for drawing, in fact my dream has been always to do something related to it, like illustration. I remember as a child, I grew up with some beautiful illustrations I could find in books from my library. My first music album was at 6 years, Pink Floyd The Wall, my mom gave it to me because I was always contemplating the the incredible artwork of Gerald Scarfe, and I remember drawing those monsters from The Wall in my own style. Unfortunately, things in life doesn't go as planned and life took me for some other roads, putting drawing away in my teenage years. It was about 8 years ago that my life gave a tremendous shift and I decided to go back to the drawing as a very important and personal need for a project I was doing.

Hobby Hopefully Turning to Profession

I'm a 33 year old Doctor of Physical Therapy with an undergraduate degree in Biology and Studio Art. After many years away from drawing and painting while in graduate school, I recently went back to art before the birth of my son. I painted a portrait for his nursery room, and haven't stopped since.

Currently, I feel that my skill level is lacking some core and basic competencies due to the lack of a formal educational structure during college.

I have found that the information on the Drawing Academy website has the advantage of filling in some of the gaps in my current technical skills and knowledge.

My Sunshine

My name is Dung Le(Dylan), and I'm 18. I'm currently enrolling in the University of Rochester.

I have drawn paintings since I was 5, and creating art work has always been a huge interest and passion for me through the years. It takes a lot of time and effort at the beginning when I was too young to know how to draw, but I gradually master the stroke, shading techniques, and how to put my emotions and feelings into the paintings. As I immerse myself further in art, I want to learn more about how to create an art work that is influential and has multi-layer meanings.

Art Along The Way

Art has been a part of my life since childhood and the value I find in both creating and sharing art has grown immeasurably over the years.

Art is my passion and I can honestly say that it has not only enriched my life, but actually helped save it and give my life purpose and meaning. It is my heart-felt desire to not only improve my artistic ability, but to use that ability to be of service to others in need.

Drawing Academy provides not only an opportunity to learn and grow as an artist, but also provides a sense of community, which is important to me at this time in my life.

Thoughts

This is the story of both my life and art progression, as well as the place art not only has in my heart but in my everyday life. As a child I had experience with loss of a parent to a suicide, my father had art skill and his parents were planning on opening a tattoo shop for him, but sadly he had passed before his dreams could come true.

I really started doing art about a year or two ago but the improvement came surprisingly fast compared to my friends' art progression.

Art is very important for me. I can actually express myself without having to worry about anything (except those body proportions). One of the things I really strive to learn and hopefully master in art is, all of the art mediums, and everything in the arts as well.