Brace yourself, it's gonna be long one!
Even though I am by nature a very critical and rather cynical person - I am a great supporter of the mentor-apprentice relationship. In the old days it was quite a normal situation - as a child or a teenager if you wanted to learn a profession, you had to find a master, who would take you under his wing and in time, when you had earned his (master's) trust, he would reward you with the secrets of his profession as a reward for your work and loyalty.
In some narrow fields such as jewellery it is still so. The masters guard their secret techniques with great passion, which is understandable - in order to be successful, you not only have to be good at what you do, but also have to have innovative, original ideas.
And you don't just give them away:)
For me, such a first, very important mentor was my drawing and painting teacher from the art school - Professor A. He was an insanely obtuse and introvert person. In his very first class he told us to get our notebooks out - we all looked at each other in surprise - none of us had notebooks, just sketchbooks, rolls of papers and pencils. He raised one eye brow, he was clearly discontented, but told us to note down what he had to say to us in our sketchbooks and then rewrite it into a notebook.
He dictated the definition of – brace yourself - **prudence **
(I am attaching the short definition from wiki it is quite close to what the teacher said)
Prudence (Latin: prudentia, contracted from providentia meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.[1] It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of the four cardinal virtues (which are, with the three theological virtues, part of the seven virtues).
Needless to say, this unusual introduction left us with even more questions.
Immediately afterwards he placed a chair in the middle of the room, he put red shiny apple on it and told us to choose our easels and find the places that suited us. A seemingly simple task turned out to be extremely difficult for almost every student. The chair was gently bent and finding the right angle - was really difficult.
And more so – booooring! We asked Mr A why we didn't draw something more interesting or at least elaborate - to which he replied - 'how do you want to draw complicated things when you don't know how to draw the simplest things yet'.
Professor A didn't say much, from time to time he would come up to our easels and show us how to measure proportions with a so-called 'pencil and eye'. The lessons seemed quite repetitious to us, because we were polishing drawing a chair with an apple, then a chair with a vase and so on, so on.
The atmosphere in class was quite relaxed and the professor spent most of the time in his cubbyhole.
When we started working on portraits in the 2nd semester - drawing each other in turns - that's when the real fun started for me. Most of the students were bored with the classes already and were working off the bat. But for me, drawing portraits was a dream!
Even though no one was watching me, I was very excited to draw as much as possible. I asked my class-mates not to pose for them - I just wanted to draw as many faces as possible. I often stayed during breaks to finish either hair or backgrounds.
It was the middle of a beautiful spring and everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather outside, even though it was long after the bell had rung. I was still sitting at my portrait, finishing the parts I could do without my model being present.
Suddenly I felt a painful prick in my shoulder - it was Professor A who twinge me in the shoulder with a pencil sharpened like a needle.
-And what is she doing here? (the professor loved to speak to us impersonally)
-I am completing a drawing
-Wanting to go to Art Academy, does she?
-Yes, I would like to study.
-Then let her continue drawing, and not worry about the sun outside the window.
He left the studio to return after only a few minutes. He had a thick album under his arm.
The professor looked at me with one eyebrow raised:
-Wanna see?
-Sure, what book does the professor have there?
Professor took out from his chest pocket glasses with round, gold, wire frames, put them on his nose and opened the album. I wanted to take it in my hand, but the professor snatched it back asking:
-And her hands are clean?
-Of course!
It was an album by an outstanding Polish artist - painter, draftsman, graphic designer and photographer - Zbigniew Beksinski. It was the first time I saw his work. I absorbed every page as if hypnotised. The professor briefly introduced me to his profile. What stuck in my memory then most were the words:
-'He painted one picture a day'.
I thought to myself that this was just impossible, considering how elaborate his compositions were, how complex the turns of perspective, how colours work together, how extraordinary his dreamlike ideas are... It is impossible to work so quickly....
And yet. There were days when Beksinski needed more time, but he really could paint a picture a day, which he often did. His apartment was drowning in paintings even though he sold a mass or gave away it to galleries.
On the very same day, before my class- mates returned to the studio - the professor asked me again:
-'Does she want to go to Art Academy?'- professor asked
-'Very.'
And then for the first time he addressed me directly:
-'You must forget everything you know, everything you ever learned.
You have to search deeper. And you have to be honest in this search, honest with yourself. And it won't be easy. And you have to work hard. Not just here in class, but always. Keep working on your craft and you will see that it will be worth it.'
I myself was surprised, that his words had an effect on me. I actually stayed after hours, drawing on the bus, during breaks, while talking to friends in the evenings. I asked friends to pose for me. I do not know which motivated me more - the words of my professor - or the titan of work - Beksinski.
Indeed, I spent evenings at the easel, many times I cried sitting at night in the studio after hours. But I get easy A on my diploma, and.... I got into the Art Academy I wanted.
What is important in this story - I had classes with Professor A only for one year. After that - there were other professors, but nobody touched me so much, and actually stung me:) as Professor A.
I try to motivate my niece - Lena, at every possible opportunity. She has an illustrative talent. She draws from memory any animal, builds strange things out of cardboard and paper. I try to encourage her as much as I can, because she gets distracted very easily, and she watches those awful videos on tik-tok which make me physically sick. Ugh...
She is very stubborn but I will keep trying, because I believe that hard work can take you really far, although my niece has a different opinion on the matter:)
We often say that we work hard so that our children have it easier in life.
But is this really a wise approach? In my opinion, world doesn't work that way.
quote from the novel "The End" by G. Michael Hopf
I think, that sweat and tears are part of striving for excellence. Growing a thick skin and working hard on ourselves is a very important part of living, forging our identity and working on our strength of character. We live in privileged times, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard.
Working on ourselves is the most important work in life, because it lasts – our entire life.
I am attaching pictures my childhood drawings(so if you have any doubts in yourself - save those, and look from time to time to cheer yourself up, everyone has to started somewhere!), few picks of my lovely, crazy niece, and self - portrait of my favourite Teacher - Roman Aniszewski(featured in article as Professor A).
I hope I didn't make you sleepy or bored:)
I wish you all lovely rest of the week,
Yours,
Strega Azure
So here have my humble beginnings!
The read circle with question mark - was made by my teacher, I was drawing in my language book.. during the class...
My Mum have found it in the attic few years back. I was 7 back then.
My lovely niece, I hope you can forgive me censoring her face:) This is apparently 'cat costume'. She used up my SILVER tape entirely...
Here you can see a self-portrait authored by my Teacher - Professor Roman Aniszewski(Professor A - mention in article) source
When I was at school he was already over 50, but I can assure you - he cached likeness perfectly!
Pictures are my authorship if not stated otherwise, all rights reserved 
posted via Ecency
