Artifacts

I recently started an oil painting class. For many different reasons. One is getting a hobby off of the computer. Get away from the screen. Out of the apartment. Another is more Japanese practice. It’s a small art school. They do not speak English at all. My work environment since moving to Japan has been mostly in English speaking bubbles1. This is a great way for me to force the practice with the very high stakes of making a bad painting if I misunderstand something2. The final reason is for the artifact. At the end of it, there’s something you can hold in your hands. A physicality that light emitting diodes cannot quite replicate. I don’t know if you’ve been to a museum lately, but paintings are definitely more impactful in person than as a jpeg. Silly but serious reminder that I needed at some point. And so far, I have been enjoying the process. I am leaving class thinking about the next session. The class time is about two hours. In my particular class there is not that many…