If it’s practice, is it art?

Jeanette, conte

Honestly, it’s all practice and that’s why I decided to study art so many years ago. There would always be more to learn, more to say, better or different ways to express visually. I started figure drawing at Ryerson in the Fashion Design program. Of course, we learned to play with proportions, but the models were not stick figures.

Jeanette, conte

Matt, conte

Jeanette, conte

Lately I’ve taken portrait and figure drawing classes with Hida Behzadi at The Arts Project. There’s Jeanette and Matt, wonderful models, on page after page.

Green as I am at heart, I have used paper unabashedly because it’s the only way to practice. Large pads of newsprint covered with lines and smudges from little sticks of Conte chalk.

And always room for improvement.

Something totally different: I learned about collage with Hendrikus Bervoets in an Art for AIDS International workshop. What a fun and colourful way to get into a socially conscious groove. Each one is a square but even squares can be interesting.