My Experience Taking Art Courses at Art Center Michelangelo Mostar

I have  probably mentioned taking art classes at least a few times here on my blog. I've always loved art, so it is hardly surprising that I decided to take an art course. I took me a while to put together this post, because there were a lot of photographs that I wanted to include. In addition, I wanted to write about painting reproductions because that's an essential part of most traditional art courses. I did write about that when I posted Is Reproduction Painting a Good Way to Improve One's Painting Skills?  article so feel free to check that one as well. Over the years, I've showed you a number of paintings I made in those art courses I took, but I wanted to do a special post with most of them (and all of my most recent ones). 

Basically, my story with art courses started a few years ago when I signed up for my first art classes at a local gallery here in Mostar. After I got my course degree, we (all the participants) had an exhibition together. It was a lovely experience. I decided to continue my art studies so this I took part in another art course that was a continuation of the last one. Once again, we had a joint exhibition at the end of the three month period and it was a lot of fun. Then I took another course. Long story short, I've completed several art courses so far. These art courses that I took were typical ones. You take weekly classes (once a week in) and you're taught to paint. I enjoyed the whole experience so much that I plan to continue signing up and taking part in art classes as long as I can. 

ART CENTER MICHELANGELO 

I've always loved creating art, but it took me a while to realize that I need to work on developing my art skills. I guess this is the case with many of us. We get blinded by words like talent, while in fact no amount of talent can be a substitute for a lack of skills. To get better at something, you need to work on it. If you are into art, you should learn how to follow your impulses and don't be afraid of putting in the work. That's the best advice I can give as an amateur artist. Anyhow, my more concentrated efforts to improve my art skills start at art center Michelangelo. This is where I signed up for and took all my art classes up to today. I will write about it in detail some other time, today I'll just write about my experience of taking art courses in a more general way. 

MY ART (FOR MOST PART REPRODUCTION ART)

Oil on canvas (left), Acrylic on canvas (right)

Despite the fact that I choose a somewhat minimalist inner design for my house, on my husband's insistence,  I placed most of my art on the walls. Right now I rotate my painting because I have so many of them. Naturally, I gave some of them away, so I don't have all of them anymore but I still have more than enough for rotation. I suppose owning a lot of art is one of the privileges of taking art classes. If you keep working on your paintings, you'll end up with a pretty nice sum of them. Who says hard work doesn't pay off, right?

So, if you are considering taking an art class, have in mind that you don't have much to lose. After all, these things aren't terribly pricey. How time-demanding they will ultimately be, depends on you. An art course is not a place where you'll start to paint like Michelangelo automatically, but if you put effort into it might help you develop your art skills. I'm very happy I decided to sign up for art courses in the first place. It's very satisfying having so many lovely oil and acrylic paintings in my home.

Now to answer a few questions you might have. I knew I used to have them as well. Are art classes also suitable for beginnings? Absolutely, they are very suitable for those people who are just starting to paint. Are art classes good places for those who already paint? Absolutely, they are because they give an amateur painter a chance to reflect on one's work and improve it. That's my opinion anyway. I think art courses can be a great way to both find inspiration and work on our art skills. 

On overall, my experiences with taking art classes were positive ones. However, like with everything you need to be willing to put in the time and work in order to get results. If you want to better your art skills, you need to work on developing and perfecting them. If you decide to take art classes, do listen to your teachers. Take your time, nothing happens over night. Developing your personal style might take a long time, so remember to have fun in the process. Working hard on developing your art skills doesn't mean you can't have fun with art. There is a time and place for everything as they say. If you're thinking about taking an art class or signing up for an art course, have these things in mind. I hope you've found this post helpful. If you like, I can write about my experience in more detail some other time.  Thank you for reading!