Great First Day!

I was the first student in class this morning (not a surprise….) to see that the teachers had been very busy transforming the space from a party room into a really nice classroom.

That’s Edgar at the front.

We didn’t use any of this space today, however.  Instead, we sat in a circle on the floor to the right and started with an opening prayer and long OM chant before hearing a bit more about the story behind the Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts and from everyone present (6 faculty and 7 students).  I got surprisingly emotional when my turn came.  Surprising, not because I am not an emotional person, but because I myself didn’t expect it.  It was very moving to see the strong link between spirituality and art for those present.  I’m in the right place!

After lunch, we headed to a big art store the size of a Michael’s at the end of the U3 line, Boesner, to buy all the art supplies on our first shopping list (for the drawing part of the program).  Interestingly, the store doesn’t take credit cards…  Luckily, I had enough cash on me – 80EUR ($116).  I learned that for purchases over 75EUR, I need to ask for a special receipt so that I can claim the VAT tax back when I leave Austria.

Tomorrow we start drawing!  Last night, I did my paraliminal CD on reprogramming beliefs, specifically the “I can’t draw” one.  This morning, after dreams with a strong theme of “starving artist” (no doubt inspired by a comment I heard at the party), I also used it to reprogram any beliefs I had around that.  When I got to school, I found out that they had sold quite a few of my bookmarks, a few prints and a full set of my Spirit Calling Cards at the party on Saturday.  Yay! Confirmation – artists can be abundant!

Our weekly schedule, if you’re curious, looks like this for the first month:

Monday – Friday:
10AM – 11:30AM – Theory (stylizing the figure; sacred geometry, composition)
11:30 – 1PM – Practice
2 – 4 PM – Studio Drawing (from casts, photo references, prep. for our 3 paintings of the trimester) & Thursday, Sacred Codes

4 – 6 PM
Monday & Wednesday – Life Drawing with a Live Model
Tuesday & Friday  – Refining the life drawing
Thursday – Museum Drawing
Plus the grand master of Visionary Art, Ernst Fuchs, who also has his studio in the Palais Palffy, will likely wander into our classroom daily to offer feedback.  We’ll also get to spend time observing him paint – quite an honour!

I look forward to seeing what transpires on paper tomorrow – I must remind myself to be gentle, accepting, patient, open, and loving with myself.  It’s 9pm… perhaps a good time to go to bed with another paraliminal CD.  I’m a fan!