Hobbies and the costs associated with them

I feel that most people benefit from having a hobby or an outlet outside of their job and daily commitments. Though blogging has been a very fun hobby for me over the past few years, I wanted to stretch myself to be a little more creative in 2010, so I decided to take up another hobby which is drawing. I was also inspired to pursue my own non-blogging hobby by Well Heeled's posts on her hobby which is Argentine tango dancing. I signed up for an Intro to Drawing class at an art studio that offers adult classes in my area called the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and have really been enjoying it. I'm still very much a beginner, but the class has encouraged me to practice drawing on my own and I definitely plan to take other art classes in the future. Unlike blogging which I love, I don't have to sit in front of a computer to draw and it requires singular focus, so I can't try to multi-task and do several things at once which I'm usually tempted to do when I'm blogging on my computer.

I'm in the last week of my eight week class which cost $272. I think this price is pretty reasonable for my class and I was able to arrange a payment plan, so I didn't have to pay for the class in one lump sum. I have spent approximately $50 on supplies that include newsprint paper, high quality drawing paper, sketch pad, drawing pencils, ink, charcol sticks, erasers, a supply case and an artwork carrier. Replacing these supplies won't cost as much because I won't be buying things like the supply case and artwork carrier again. Art supplies like pencils and paper should also last a while for me since this is a purely recreational hobby and I'm not taking time-intensive art classes. I think the money for the class and supplies was worth spending and look forward to seeing gradual improvement in my drawing/artwork in the future.

Maybe I'll take a stab at drawing a landscape picture of some cherry blossom trees this week since they are in full bloom!