Stepping It Up

In a very un-Alison move, I just registered for a five week painting e-course called Get Your Paint On: Beyond the Basics, taught by two artists with some significant online cred, Lisa Congdon and Mati McDonough. I've had an artist crush on Lisa Congdon for years - she's the first person I think of when I start running the occasional "I'm too old to start focusing on making art/ I should have gone to art school/ it's too late for me" loop in my head. She's amazingly inspiring. Mati is less familiar but I've certainly heard of her, and I love the idea of a team-taught course for the diversity of experience that will be reflected. The course isn't cheap; $139 for me is actually kind of astronomical, but when I first heard about it, I felt so pulled to do it that I called my dad and asked if he'd help me with the cost of registering. Again, not a normal thing for me to do. But I am trying to prioritize my art more, especially how much time I devote to making it, and putting up some money (even and especially when it's not my money to squander) will be, I reckon, just the thing to kick me into a new gear. I'm so excited. I haven't taken an art class since college, and I'm fascinated to see how it works online. The course starts next Monday. I'll let you know how it's going! And if you're inclined to take it too, go to the introduction page to sign up or just to learn more.