Life lessons in art class

This semester I am taking a class in drawing and painting for the first time since I was in middle school.  I love the atelier; it's filled with the gray natural light of a Parisian afternoon and the harsh smell of paint.  I'm learning a lot about art, but I've also found that I'm learning a lot about life and myself.  If you'll forgive me for a moment of empurpled soul-bearing, here are some things I've learned :

1. The hardest part is starting.  When I sit down to that white page, I feel like I wouldn't know how to write my name with a crayon, much less paint a human being.  Once I start, it gets easier.
   
2. There is no right or wrong way to paint a picture.  Part of why the blank canvas is so intimidating is that I don't know what I'm doing.  I've realized that I'm really uncomfortable with not knowing how to do something "right."  In the world of academia, where there is often a right and wrong, at the very least in terms of methodology, it's nice to have an outlet where the point is just to do.
   
3. Don't force it.  The more I try to draw what I think I see instead of what I do see, the less human my pictures look.  When I relax and work in the moment, the results are usually more interesting.
   
4. Trust myself.  "Don't be afraid to be audacious," said my teacher to me, "When you've decided where to put something, make deliberate brushstrokes.  If it's not right, you can change it later."
   
5. Freedom scares me.  When I look at that blank page and think "I could do anything," I freeze.  This, maybe more than these other things, surprises me.  I love the idea of freedom.  I guess with time that infiniteness will scare me less, as will my own boundlessness.  

I painted this!

Beginning,
Maria