Journal #2
What I Learned from Studying Art That Still Guides My Hand Today
Introduction
When I look back at my time in college and majoring in art, I realize how many lessons linger, not just about classical drawing or design, but about how to see, slowing down, observe and trust my own process. Years later, those early critiques, some painful, and long hours in the studio classes still echo in the quiet moments of my practice. The tools may have changed, I traded charcoal and acrylic paint for colored pencils, collage and airbrush. The classroom walls for my humble Long Beach Studio in my converted garage but the fundamentals remain the same, thoughtful art, finely made.
Lesson One: Look Longer Than You Paint
One of the first things I learned was to really look! I studied under the renowned figure artist Marshall Glazier at the Art Students League in New York City when I was younger in the late 60s, early 70s, and he drilled that into my head. Not to see the whole but the shapes inside the whole. He made us spend a great deal of time looking at a human figure before we could even touch the page. It was exasperating at the time, but it trained my eye to notice the subtleties, like how a shadow shifts color, how the negative space defines the subject. Now before beginning a piece, I take time to observe and contemplate. Whether it is the movement in the water in my Women in the Water Series or an old, rusted truck abandoned in a roadside field, I sit with the scene until it begins to breathe on its own.
Nude #2
Charcoal – 1970 Art Students League
Mid States Art Exhibition Finalist 1971
Lesson Two: Simplicity Has Power
Art school taught me restraint. One of my favorite professors, Dr. Phillip Deddrick at Rockford University, used to say, “Don’t say everything…let the viewer participate.” That advice reshaped how I approach my compositions today. I have learned that leaving white space or soft transitions allows emotion to enter the work. Every brushstroke must earn its place.
Autumn Leaves – Colored Pencil
Lesson Three: Color is Emotion
In theory classes, we mixed endless swatches, from muted neutrals to high-chroma hues, learning that color isn’t just visual; it’s an emotional language. Now when I choose turquoise, one of my favorite colors, for calm, or deep ochre for grounded warmth, I’m speaking in the same visual vocabulary. All my travels have added dialect, Hawaii blues, La Quinta desert ambers, but art school gave me grammar.
La Quinta Pool Reflections – Colored Pencil
Lesson Four: Keep Experimenting
If there is one habit I never lost, it’s curiosity. My instructors pushed us to step outside our comfort zones and to use new materials, to fail, to start again. I am doing that on a piece I recently started and am starting it over again. That openness still defines my practice. I combine pen, pencil, acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, colored pencils with an Icarus Board, acrylic airbrushed ink and collage because each offer something different and a dialogue between control and spontaneity. The learning never really stops; it just changes shape.
PC Adams Art Studio
Closing Reflection
Art school gave me the foundation, but life and experience keep refining my art. Every new piece I create carries a little of that early discipline, a little rebellion, and a lot of gratitude for those teachers who saw potential in an eager hand holding a pencil.
If you’ve ever wondered what art school truly gives an artist, it’s this: a lifelong habit of seeing the world in layers.
pcadamsart.com
Finished artwork displayed in my studio – Misser’s Aloha
Artwork inspired by foundational art principles