April 2025

Monthly Review

Apr 27

General Note: We went under contract to sell the building in Knoxville, travelled for Meemaw’s birthday, and then travelled unexpectedly to deal with issues at the building and try to keep things running smooth until close. I’ve been in a bit of “survival” mode with art. I’ve felt pretty tired and apathetic. So I’m trying to focus on simple consistency. I’m proud that I completed the Mastering Composition course. I did 7/30 drawings for the post-course drawing challenge, but decided to stop participating and give myself some more breathing room and flexibility with art for now.

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

Week 1 [03/31/25- 04/06/25]

Mastering Composition Week 6/6 - Exploring Composition
- Focused on finding our own images instead of using Ian’s - this was very challenging!

Week 2 [04/07/25- 04/13/25]

Re-drew the barn baseline drawing for Mastering Composition… I was really proud and surprised by how much I improved over the 6 weeks

Week 3 [04/14/25- 04/20/25]

Did several drawings for the challenge this week
Drew some from the still-life setup I did in the Airstream 😂… it was quite the challenge trying to set this up. I didn’t have a good light, and it was hard working with all the reflective walls. But I did my best. I was proud of myself for making do.

Week 4 [04/21/25- 04/27/25]

This turned into a crazy travel week. I decided to discontinue my participation in the drawing challenge, and I did some loose watercolor bird paintings instead.
Watched Mary Fedden documentary and was very inspired:
- It was eye-opening to hear her talk about avoiding painting with green for most of her life because it was “too hard.” It’s nice to know that everyone is always still learning. And it’s interesting to think about how “limitations” like this shape someone’s style. And it was cool to see her deciding to start painting with green well into her 80s.

1 SKILL I’M WORKING ON

Consistency
- In this season of moving and not having a stable work environment, I’m feeling a bit flounder-y. Consistency is the name of the game right now, even if it’s just a 30-second contour drawing

2 THINGS I LEARNED

There’s always more to learn, and that’s the fun of it! Stop feeling discouraged, Hanna! Just get excited about all the exploring and experimentation you have yet to do!