>On the other hand, I'm not looking to be Renoir by December, I'm
>just... looking for the entrance ramp. I could sit and make random
>marks on paper as the whim takes me for the next 20 years or so and
>that wouldn't get me anywhere at all. Best-case, the class at least
>provides a strategy. :)

Based on my better half's experience, this is absolutely the right reason to be taking such a class. Like many (many) skills and disciplines, teaching oneself is possible, but tutelage under a competent instructor is far more effective.

(The qualifier about "competent" is quite critical, however; there are some art faculty out there who are excellent artists but terrible at teaching art.)

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"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding

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