School

For the past year, I've been trying to slog through my own murkiness and find a clear path to further my artistic ability. I had touched on the topic of going to school as a way to progress. I had also touched on the very romantic idea of taking "Art Holidays" where I would go spend a week studying with an artist and learn what could be learned in a week from them. That really sounds like a lot of fun to me but, it's very costly and I don't want to take a vacation where I'm going to be away from Rick all day, every day of it. So I reverted back to the school idea.


To mention, I've already gotten an "Art Diploma" from Penn Foster which is great as a basic course but doesn't really get you anywhere. I started looking around to see who offered a Bachelor's in Fine Arts and found 2 universities near me that did. The deciding factor? The one closest to me has a demand of ownership of two of your art pieces (their choice)as part of your graduation requirements. Give my art away? Not to anyone I don't love. So I drive a little bit farther and go to Northeastern State University where I am studying Fine Arts.

I tried it out over the summer to make sure I could handle school. Can you believe that after 35 years out of high school, I had to take remedial math? I sure did. I'm just glad I only had to take intermediate algebra and not elementary algebra as well. After making sure I could hack school, I quit my part time job and enrolled in school full time.

I just completed the first week. It's kicking my tail. The work is not too hard, it's the walking. The school is in Tahlequah but it feels like I'm having to park in Fayetteville to get the nearest parking spot. We are still in the throes of a very hot and dry August and shady parking spots come at a premium. No one makes it to class without breaking out in a sweat and the classrooms are starting to store the aroma. With luck the heat wave will break soon and I will become accustomed to the extra walking.