i signed up for a course mindfulness . :D starts in september. looking forward to it!

...did a fantastic job during the class-- Diana's Princess of Mars cover painting-- Jennifer Oliver's lovely Lady of the Lake and Arthur-- Irene Gallo's lecture was after dinner at 7pm. She, of course, is the very well-known, award-winning Art Director for Tor Books (also Forge and Starscape). And she'd been involved with the IMC all week, taking pictures, talking, wearing L.A. William's suit...

...-a sketch of a head from ref., using Painter and Photoshop. Boris and Julie presented the after-dinner lecture. No photos allowed, either. And wow, I was SO sleepy!!! but had to stay awake, of course! They do their underpainting in acrylic. Block in dark areas in oil, use turp as medium, pick off paint with turp. Use #1 W&N Ser.7 Round Sables for faces. They've been together over 20 years,...

During the class, I hadn't managed to get to sleep before 2 or 3am, so I started to skip breakfasts in order to sleep in to at least 8:30. I ran into town (well, across the street and down a block or two...working digitally-- To be continued... SEVERAL MORE DAYS TO COME!!! ---------------- I hope all the Americans had a fab 4th! Fireworks, music, picnics, barbeques... what's not to like?

...Did Not Help! *groan!* [Michael Whelan, guest-instructor, viewing instructor Greg Manchess's work.] The food was good, though. And I thought I should have breakfast, since it came with the course and I knew it would be a long and busy day. We had a Hazardous Materials and Safety Meeting at 9:45, wherein the college's representative quickly ran down all the rules, such as making sure absolutely...

...day, of the kind that training should be about, talking to a tutor and catching up with my former boss, who made me feel vaguely adult and moderately knowledgeable and competent, something that my course does not led itself to, which was, in consequence, even more appreciated. And it was lovely in the pub, with people from my cohort and the second year and two lovely new acquaintances mingling and...

...on-- Greg Manchess knocked in the first figure on his piece the first night-- Scott got a lot done also-- Julie Bell painted the underpainting-- As did Boris... all in an hour or two-- Of course, they are well-admired professionals for a reason! I was still working on my sketch, of course... shooting photo-refs in L. A. Williams' room, since he had brought his lights and D700 camera, and...

OMG... it's over! I'm sorry for lack of updates, but the wireless connection in the Amherst College dorms is slower than dial-up AND we've been running about non-stop every day from 7:30am for breakfast...Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. But they may do it next year! Wow. I'm going if at all possible!!! Plane flight home tomorrow... So tired! Very satisfied, even without finishing my painting..

For a fantasy illustrator, this is like dying and going to heaven! There are 70+ students, ranging from beginning to being tops in their fields. Everyone is excited and working together and amazingly kick... but most are going to eventually be doing traditional. I'll be trying oils for the first time since college. It's now 2am and we have to be up at 7:30 tomorrow! It's going to be a crazy-ass week!

...prestigious Engineering College I asked a few recently passed out alumni [who were working for a leading IT company for just over a year] as to how much of what was taught in his four year Engineering Degree Course in his college was useful in his work. They said: “Less than 5% (five percent)” – which means that his employer had to invest heavily [almost 95%] in his training and the rest he had to learn on...