Ten Weeks: Ridiculous Charts!

So I really wanted to stick to a plan and provide structure with results. It morphed as it went along. You're welcome to scroll down to the end and find the TLDR version of this post.

Letting my brain wander (I really, really wanted to stay interested, motivated, and get excited every day I work), I pretended I was going to teach a class-- being both the teacher AND student, and fantasized that one day maybe I could teach this course to someone else one day. Egotistical? Complicated? Absolutely. But a start...

"Even a cool knowledge triangle!"

What I had in mind from the start was to sharpen my technique, figure out what I wanted in my pictures, brush up on art history, and complete many studies from other artists' work, and re-experience growth.
Bargue copies, life/observational drawing (portrait, model, still life), master copies from the guys I think are the best (only rule being that they're already dead), imagination (if I wanted to draw the cutest ice creams of my dreams, I could), and color theory (so i can understand and formulate better color choices, and indirectly value). I even came up with a cool knowledge triangle like the Health Triangle (see top middle). Barf.

Next, I came up with I set up a ridiculous thing to keep me occupied for every hour of my free time, practically. Already I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up but if I shot really really big, I'd grow comfortable with some level of rigor.

So all I have to do is sit down and do this, right?

Huge lesson here is how much time I actually have (upper left-each tally is an hour of open time). And how I need to be realistic about it--Like I'm really not going to do more work after I get out from my job at 9:30 PM. I factored that in. I planned to take Saturday off. Above, I still had the idea that I could partition out the time just like when I was in college and fully focus on different subjects at a specific time (HMMnope) and listed helpful texts* I could read (correction, refer to, because of my flea-like attention span).  I also wrote what I hoped to get out of it. If I could stick to it, I promised myself rewards (classes in SF, here I come), and the time frame.

Next I really got specific and whittled down every minute and set more specific goals and exactly what pieces I wanted to end up with at the end. This is partly down a good path and partly horrific brambly balls. Aiming for set number of pieces good, crushing schedule exactitude bad. Long term goals good, promising rest if I killed myself in the studio bad. I tried not to be overtly negative about my own work below, I'm pretty hugely aware of my flaws (yet have trouble working on them). Trying to be upbeat good. Seeing this mess below bad. Ug.

5 pieces going at any time. Sickening, difficult, and the right thing to do.

I also organized my current work into portfolio groups so I wouldn't be scared that what I would make next wouldn't fall in anywhere. Good idea, but it's somewhat needless worrying for now.  Indicated also is what year I made the painting. I really don't want old stuff in there but I gotta face myself. This is where I'm at right now. I sorted stuff into groups-- Still Life, Other, Drawing, Land[scape], Pop, and All Around. It's like the Olympics. And I couldn't help but editorialize that I felt my work gets the Traditional, Thoughtful, Mundane, Boring, and Stiff medals.

"I've gotta face myself. This is where I'm at right now."

TLDR: After a few more to-do lists, I set a date. Start date: July 30. End: October 8.

Next up is the weekly play by play where I tell you what I tried to do, and what I actually did, with some progress photos.

*These are the books:
Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 12th ed.
Ocvirk's Art and Fundementals: Theory and Practice
Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary  (a heavy, yet convenient picture jammed index)
Charles Bargue Drawing Course
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (as important as Linus' security blanket)