One of my photos of the school from back in 1994.Today and yesterday I have been packing. Yesterday mainly mentally, today in a more practical sense. Tomorrow I am leaving for a week, for a class on an art school in the south of Denmark. More specifically, on the small island of Ærø. The course is on portraiture and figure painting, and I am curious to know what I will bring home from this week.
This school has a very special meaning to me, as I went there on a long course back in 1994. I haven't been back there since. I can't help thinking of the place as it was back then, in the mid nineties. I know perfectly well that it has changed, it must have - it's been 17 years... But I feel I remember every little nook of the place, the sense of the rooms, the views and the surrounding nature. I was really young then, I was a different person to the one I am right now. So I am excited to find out how the place will feel now. And then, naturally, I am really excited about this course, on many levels. To meet the teacher, the new people and the old staff from back then (yep, I've been told the kitchen ladies and the secretary are still the same good, old people:)
What exactly I am hoping and expecting to take home with me is hard to say. Actually, I really don't know. I am mainly seeking general and broad inspiration and fresh mental air. And then I hope to get a few tips, new ideas and ways. If I am lucky, perhaps my work can be moved in some way, and aimed in slightly new direction. I've packed all my paints in a (fairly heavy) suitcase, and have brought a few brand new canvases in a bag. It is hard to come prepared when you don't now what to expect. But I've tried to come as prepared as possible. I sense that the course will be quite individual, and that suits me perfectly.
Ærø is (to put it mildly) a bit out of the way: train, bus, ferry, hours... Not quite as bad as going to Guam, but it feels like it on a tiny level, sitting here the day before. Travel fever and high expectations.
Link to the school's website:
