Drawn to it

So, some of you may recall that over a year ago, I was accepted to and began online studies at St. Francis Law School. Of course, some months later, the whole interim president thing started at work (it's still going), resulting in my changing plans and abandoning my nascent bar-exam-cram-school experience, at least temporarily.

Well, one thing that the past 14 months in the president's office has taught me is that when I retire, the last thing I want to do is any more expectation managing, issue negotiating, problem solving, conflict de-escalation, relationship building, or data-based decision-making. So law school is off the menu for good.

Besides, those attorneys are pikers - I'm going where the real moving and shaking happens: cartooning!

Of course, the W.L. Evans School of Cartooning (Cleveland, Ohio) is long gone from the mortal plane, but luckily, right up the road (and across the border) I found the next best thing: The Emily Carr University of  Art + Design.

All kidding assigned, I have enrolled in the ECUAD Continuing Studies program for a Certificate in Illustration. I have been taking art classes on and off for literally more than 40 years, and in what is perhaps the triumph of hope over experience, I am committing to this plan with the goal of establishing a strong skill base and a consistent practice that will allow me to slide gracefully into a new post-retirement job/business/career/avocation/something. I am taking two courses this semester - 2D Composition, which met for the first time last night, and Intro to Drawing (for like the third or fourth time), which starts in two weeks. These classes are taught in synchronous online sessions, but if and when the pandemic subsides, ECUAD is within striking distance for on-ground classes as well.

The class last night went pretty well - the instructor is groovy and it's really an eclectic and diverse group of students. The online format worked just as I had imagined, with folks holding up their sketchbooks to the camera on Zoom and so on. Our first assignment last night was to complete a grid experimenting with expressing different design concepts using different elements of art. 

Here's mine:

I'm not sure I quite understand formal at training; it's a far cry from the idiom with which I am most familiar and I often don't see a direct connection between my technical goals and the exercises. But it's time to chop wood and carry water: trust the teacher and immerse myself in the process.

We'll see if enlightenment of any sort is down the way.