Stacy Weitz Minch

My teacher asked the other day what it was that made me decide to start getting instruction in figure drawing (after attending open sessions for a while). I had a couple answers off the top of my head, but I've been thinking about it this weekend, because there wasn't a clear answer that came to mind (and maybe there still isn't). But I like to have answers, so I'm going to try to work my way through this one. For background (and I'm probably a bit of a broken record here), my mom put me in a figure drawing class at the local university when I was 16. The professor tried to convince me to seek out somewhere that I could learn the traditional methods of drawing and painting. He thought I could learn to draw and paint in the methods of the old masters!... Ha, yeah right! was my thought. I just didn't believe it (and I'm still not quite sure I believe it... though I want to. I'm trying :/). Fast forward 12 years. I found the atelier I'm attending r...

While in the midst of some spring closet cleaning, I recently ran across my painting portfolio from my very last class at MSU-Billings (I needed a few more upper division credits for graduation so, of course, I went for the art credits ;). This was just about exactly 10 years ago--a six-week summer course of 3-4 hours of painting Monday-Thursday, which was the perfect way to spend my last summer at home. I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes when my vision extends so far beyond my abilities. But looking at these old paintings of mine reminds me that even though I'm not where I want to be, I have come a long way. And because I believe that you (whoever might be reading this) probably enjoy a good laugh as much as I do, I'm going to share some of these characters with you: My professor really liked this one. I remember him telling me that many of the MFA students he had taught wouldn't have been able to do this. Which cracked me up a little because I'd been to a...

I've gotten this question a few times lately, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to think the answer through. Why didn't I go into art? I have always loved art, so I guess it would have made sense if I had gotten an art degree. My dad used to bring home stacks of paper from the recycling bin at his workplace every day, and my older sister Jackie and I would fill the backs of the perforated-edged computer paper with our drawings.  A drawing I did of my mom's rocking chair at age 6 Our depiction of my dad's workplace (he worked at a refinery). I'm on the left :) There was a boy in my school class whose mom ran art camps for kids. I participated in quite a few of them, and even won 2nd place for one of my paintings :) Me, 8 years old painted around age 7-8 In junior high, my interest in art grew. I took an art class every quarter/semester at school if I could fit it in, and continued to take art classes in high school. Stipp...