beginner’s mind

This is Vivi, a character I sketched for the children’s book writing and illustration class I just started taking at Art Center at Night. My first class was equal parts intimidating and inspiring. I’m the only non-visual-artist in the class, and I found myself leaning over my sketchbook like it was my junior high diary. Today I pulled my friend Lee-Roy aside and asked for a quick crash course in water color techniques because I’d exhausted all the art-101 questions I could ask in a class that wasn’t technically art 101.

Nevertheless, it’s fun to feel like a beginner. It’s like trapeze and skiing—I’m drunk on the myth of my own potential, and light with the lack of expectations. I feel kind of like the four-year-old I’m drawing, actually.

Speaking of trying new things: My friend Bronwyn has set up a new lit mag/blog (mog?) for videos of people reading their own fiction at unexpected venues. It’s called GuerrillaReads, and she’s now accepting submissions. (I’m listed as a contributor, but so far my major contribution was correcting a typo related to The Blair Witch Project. Oh, and the first post. But I wish I could take credit for the site’s overall awesomeness, but that’s all Bronwyn.)

Fiction writers: Now’s your chance to get in on the ground floor! Everyone else: It’s like books-on-CD for your eyes! Check it out at www.guerrillareads.com.

Comments

Unknown said…
that is AWESOME.
Anonymous said…
did you really draw that?
Anonymous said…
tell the truth now.
Anonymous said…
b/c it's awesome
Tracy Lynn said…
Dude, that is FANTASTIC.
Anonymous said…
Vivi the roller-skating nurse?
I can see a cat because I know you are a cat lover.. but is it you, who dream to go on a roller skate???? It reminds me of a waitress in 1950's.

Honesty, I think you did a marvelous job because I DO POORLY ON FACES! Seriously, I draw like a pig face.
Don Cummings said…
I love the drawing.
All we need is truth in drawings.
Yours has more than that.
Cheryl said…
Thanks, y'all. Vivi is a little girl (whose littleness may not come across out of context--I need to put her in one of those big Edith Ann chairs). That's about all I know about her. I'm having fun experimenting with different styles of drawing and painting her, and discovering that I have a hard time thinking visually rather than wordily.
Cheryl said…
Hi, this is Cheryl Klein (the East Coast version). I read your blog occasionally and always enjoy it, and if you ever decide to turn one of your projects from this class into a kids' or YA book, do please send it my way! My website and contact information are at (you guessed it) www.cherylklein.com. It would be tres weird but equally cool to publish something by you.

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