first finished in-class painting

yesterday i pretty much finished my first painting for this class. we're having a critique during the second half of the class tomorrow, and i think during the first half i'll do a couple touch ups, but i don't want to fuss with it too much.

i struggled with this a lot while i painted it. i think it's because i'm intimidated by how GOOD my classmates are.  i'm pretty good with not comparing myself to others, and i realize that we all have our own style. and it doesn't matter to me much anyway, because i paint for the enjoyment of it, not to be the best at it.  but looking around at all my classmates' paintings, i felt small and like i had a lot of catching up to do. as much as i love to paint, i feel like i still basically know nothing about it.

that's why it was amazing when my teacher, rick, came over and pointed out all the things he liked about it. he said it was "really nice" and that i handled the colors beautifully. then when i was about to do something impulsive to it, he stopped me and pointed out why it would detract from how good it already is. then he brought me to his office and we looked at different artists on the internet (i WISH i had written their names down) and talked about their techniques and things of theirs i could take with me.

i'm excited and nervous for my first critique tomorrow!