Endurance training: an art school requirement

Hellooooo from Philadelphia! As I pass the 1/2 way mark of my first semester of art school at Studio Incamminati in downtown Philadelphia, PA, I am reminded of…well… endurance training for the Bizz Johnson Trail marathon race I ran and finished in 2007. In the photo I’m at the finish line (on the left) with my husband, David, my niece, Debbie and several other fine running friends, too.

What the heck does endurance training have to do with drawing in charcoal at art school? More than you can imagine!

At art school, we spend 6+ hours a day standing on concrete floors with our drawing arm extended from the easel, over the taboret (the table between you and the easel), and our teachers constantly remind us to “stand back and squint.” This tip is designed to help us see the geometric shapes and forms of whatever it is we may be drawing (still life, human figure or portrait).

When you train for a marathon, you are preparing for a long run of 26.2 miles and, in my case, it took me 5 hours and 23 minutes to complete that distance. I spent many Saturday mornings training for longer and longer runs and although I never ran for 6-hours straight my feet frequently felt as if I had.

I love doing this type of realistic artwork including still life drawing, the human figure and portraits and so I have tapped into several practices that I used when I was training for a marathon to help me ‘go the distance’ here.

Following are some of these tips and a few drawings I’ve completed, too.

Tip #1 – Get lots of rest and eat well. I am so lucky to live near school and to be able to walk there everyday. This means that I can get tons o’ sleep each day and take time to make home cooked meals with David and this means I’m eating well. Here’s a charcoal drawing of a pumpkin and two persimmons that I completed just before Halloween.

Tip #2 – Have training buddies. When I was training for the marathon, I had a group of fabulous running buddies who ran my pace and kept me on the training schedule I needed to follow to reach the goal of running 26.2 miles on race day. Shout out to Martha, Steph and Shannon – my hokey pokey running pals!

Now that I’m in art school I am lucky enough to have classmates who, like me, have left previous lives in a variety of roles and professions. We’re known as “Level 1 Students” at Studio Incamminati. Since September 5, 2014 we have been put through rigorous days where each of us, including yours truly, has had great feedback like this, “Excellent Julie!” to “Ah Julie, your proportions are off and the gesture is non-existent and your use of charcoal as a tool needs work.” OUCH! But, almost every week, there is an opportunity to talk, vent, weep, laugh, etc, with classmates as we move forward (the meaning of the word “Incamminati” by the way) in this adventure.

Tip #3 – Have a mantra. Both during long distance runs and long drawing assignments, I have invoked the mantra from my favorite childhood story, “The Little Engine That Could.” The mantra of “I think I can I think I can I think I can I know I can I know I can I know I can” has helped me navigate my way through poop-filled cow pastures on trail runs and drawing sessions where I failed to see the subject in the same way that the teacher does.

Tip #4 – Be gentle with yourself. OK maybe this doesn’t seem to make too much sense for someone training for a marathon – right? Perhaps the message in your head needs to be more ‘driven’ sounding like “go go go.” Well, not for this chickadee.

I already knew, going into the marathon that I have this tendency to fall when I get really fatigued. I fell on mile 10 of a 1/2 marathon, I fell half way through a trail run in Carrboro NC and the (sick-o but funny) people around me called the scrapes and bumps I got as a result “trail love.” If I knew there was the possibility of falling and getting a bloody knee or elbow, I’m going to be gentle with myself along the way. The same thing goes for art school.

So, for me, the best way to be gentle is by practicing a short, breathing meditation each morning before I venture out to class and into the world. Thank you to my Buddhist sister-in-law, Sue for these short, lovely meditations! In the charcoal drawing here in this section of Tip #4, I’ve had a major breakthrough! This image shows a gesture of the action of the model kneeling.

Tip #5 – Do your best. At the end of the day, if you (and I) have done the best you can, then what more can you do? I am thrilled with this drawing here because it shows that I am beginning to see the geometric shapes within the human figure. In fact, I draw these quick gesture drawings without even thinking that I’m seeing an arm or torso or foot. Rather, I’m thinking about the gesture of the figure (in this case, a reclining figure), boxes and shapes of the torso and hips and – shazam – I am excited with these results.

Doing my best and following these tips has helped me survive and thrive here.

What tips do you have when you are striving towards a long term goal in your life?