This week in school.

To start off, I want to congratulate Tech on their decision to cancel 2 CLASS DAYS right before Monday's holiday due to snow, when I am currently in another country that would laugh at the very idea. All the best American stuff happens when I'm away. Here, the only way they'd close school is if the temperature got too low, like -45°C.

But anyway, I'm loving Finland too much to really be bothered by it. :) I like how the school is for art and only art. The students are very friendly and welcoming. It's just a short walk down the road, so I don't have to freak out over parking. And my Live Model Painting has been going well.

Like most new things I try, I wish I was just immediately amazing at it, haha. But it was still a good experience; with just one more week, I will have learned quite a bit. First off, my professor speaks very good English considering he's trying to give me artistic feedback. There have been just a few times where he needed my help finding the right word. He's been totally patient, with both praise and some suggestive feedback to help the painting.

We started off on Tuesday drawing the model. I did a few practice sketches. Then the students brought out canvases they had made; I got a big MDF board for now. Hopefully I'll make some "grounds" as they call it by next week. We painted the model throughout the rest of the week. The schedule was 9am to 11am, followed by 1 hour lunch, then 12pm to 4pm, with a coffee break at 2. (They cling to that coffee break!) The model also took frequent breaks to stretch. Needless to say, this was a very relaxed setting; if I got to class 20 minutes late, no big deal. Some took an hour or two. Here are some pictures of what I did and my little table of goodies. :) Oil paints, yay! Didn't really like MDF board, though.

We'll do this again next week through Thursday, with a different model. Afterward I'll hopefully wiggle my way into Combined Techniques, which would be even more lax. I'd get my own little space to work in, and it's basically independent. The teacher doesn't speak much English, apparently, so it will be fun to see how I get feedback from her. I also want to take Snow sculpture, which is offered before break (I think?) for two weeks. I'll try to throw in other classes in between so I can get proper credit, but these are similar year-levels to mine with relevant content, so here's to hoping.

My classmates are so friendly and have already taken to me. Their English is very good, thankfully. Patrick and I went to one of my new friends' house to play Small World, but mainly just to converse. We eventually ended up listening and playing music together. Tonight we'll be going to a house-warming party held by a fellow classmate. In between all this fun, I need to get my student card and rent situated, I suppose. :P