Today I spent an hour waiting for paint to dry. This is a weekly occurance that is apparently called coursework. Last year I decided to take on GCSE Art, but whether it was the wisest of decisions I am yet to decide.
During an art lesson last week our teacher asked out of curiosity how long we spend on art a week. The boys cheerfully said, "about two hours", then went back to covering their hands in PVA (such fun). The teacher then turned to the girls who loudly chorused from their foetal positions on the floor "four hours a day!" However, in most cases the work produced by the boys is of the same standard. It's just that the girls in my class have a tendancy to be extreme perfectionists. The strange thing is- we like it.
If you enjoy art, then it makes the laborious hours of sketching and research worthwhile. If you only choose it for the qualification, then you'll face enormous dissapointment once you realise that it will take up most of your life. Although in that sense it can be used as a brilliant advantage. For example, a hideously mannered young brute invites you to dinner at the weekend. "Terribly sorry but I'm doing GCSE coursework then, and for the next two years." Alternatively, your parents ask you to do some housework and in response you can dramatically hold a paintbrush in the air with a look of terror in your eyes, screaming "The art! The ART!".
Unfortunately it also means that you completely sacrifice your social life. The young year nines reading this may be thinking "She's exaggerating, surely it will never get that bad," as they sign their lives away on the options form. To shock you into reality, I plan my meals around my coursework. Paint has become more valuable to me than water. I don't remember what the sun looks like. (Okay, that last one was an exaggeration, but give me some artistic license.) But the sad thing is that I'm scared of finishing and realising how empty my social life is without it. "My art book is my only friend!", *hugs bundles of coursework*.
The honest truth is that I've enjoyed every minute of it. I love the drawing, coming up with original ideas, researching artists, explaining meanings behind work, presenting it in my portfolio, sneaking looks at what everyone else has been doing (while secretly deciding if yours is better) and going through old work, laughing at how bad you were three weeks ago. I've decided to drop it in favour of textiles at A-level and I am going to miss it so much. But boy will I be glad to have the free time to do art for 'fun' again.
Lots of love, stay freaky! xx
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