Visiting Home, Starting Classes Abroad, and Not Taking Yourself Toooo Seriously
I’m about three-quarters into my first month here in Madrid and after a hectic first week, (which you can read all about here) I needed some well deserved time at home. So of course, I found the cheapest domestic flight I could and set off to the north. For those of you who may not know me, my family is from Galicia, in the northwest of the Iberic peninsula- but you can google my homeland for yourselves, I’m here to talk about myself so let’s focus. And so after a week of wine, tapas, and the loudest roosters this side of the continent, I was back to reality and Madrid.
Mandatory picture of an obnoxiously large wine glass with my auntie, of course.
I started my classes last week, but I only started my first full week (3 day week) today and I’m loving it! I do have a bone to pick with Spanish universities though, at least the one I’m in. E-mail response times are just atrocious, and organisation non-existent. I say this because a month into the course I’m still unenrolled! Turns out the school enrolls you, you don’t do it yourself. This has unfortunately made for some very confused professors and even more confused Caro when finding classes and catching up on work. In spite of all this, the classes I have been able to attend so far have been incredible.
In the UK, my Fine Art Bachelor’s course does not have lessons or “subjects” to study. You mostly get left to your own devices and personal projects, which you are guided through and graded on. In Madrid, however, I had to choose subjects for which I then have lessons, where I am actually taught technique and processes in my chosen areas. In my case I chose painting and drawing classes because this is what I focus on mainly in terms of my personal practice. These classes are ideal for getting my technical skills to a higher level, which is what I’m after during this exchange.
Today I attended my first drawing class, which saw me drawing a life model au naturel. The only issue being… I haven’t drawn with a pencil since I was 16. But Caro! You’re an artist! How can this be?! Well my dearest little readers, gather round… Sometime in 2019, in the midst of Sixth Form and other such hellish experiences, I was assigned a graphite drawing on A1 paper (really f*cking big) by a less than loveable art teacher. By this time I was discovering my preference for acrylics over pencils, but here I was, cornered once again by the head of art. In trying to find a way around this, I threw my in-progress pencil drawing right in the recycling and, as I reached for a new paper, I found a box of chalk pastels. It was this box that allowed me to birth the piece below and re-discover my love for drawing.
Aphrodite in her Bath (2019). Caro [b.2002] Chalk Pastel on Toned Paper. 59.4 cm x 84.1. Via Instagram @arttcaro
Now, my dearest reader, know that today’s lesson did not go in the direction the picture above did. Oh no, of course not. Call it the nerves, call it having to stare at male genitalia for an hour and a half, but this is about all I was able to come up with (after some perspective correction from my professor).
The shameful labour of an entire lesson.
Look at it. Have a good laugh because I sure did. I think as an artist being able to laugh at yourself and your work when it all goes left is as important as taking critique and feedback well. I’ve laughed over coffee with it this afternoon and I hope you do too, maybe some little dots for eyes would have finished the piece off nicely.
All in all, I think what I’m trying to say to you this week, is that through the hectic, frustrating, and outright angering ups and downs of life, taking time to sit with yourself and have a good laugh will always be good for your mind. It’s been a rough start but I’m much more settled in and ready to sink my teeth right into these classes and Madrid’s art scene in the coming months.
As always, thank you all for reading my rants, thoughts, and progressively more unhinged blog posts every week <3 .
