The Artists Life - Painting 101 Class #2

   If you remember from last week I told you how we all survived, myself as well as my students, the first painting class that I'd taught in almost 10 years. The second session proved to be a little less dramatic as we didn't have anyone busting in towards the end of class stating they wanted to be a nude model. I was psyched that my four students arrived eager to begin their projects once again. One student showed me her photo of a painting she did years ago that also won a blue ribbon at a local summer fair. I must admit, it was a beautiful painting, regardless of how long ago it was created. Afterwards, I began wondering to myself, why did she call me originally to teach her to paint? Was I missing something here?

   My ego started punching me in the back of my mind - this is the place where I usually start second guessing myself. For a moment, I felt awkward after talking with her. My ego was jabbing me with thoughts like, "Yeah; why are you here teaching her about painting? She's won a 1st place blue ribbon. What can you offer her?" After I told my ego to shut its mouth, I now had the mindset that I had something to prove - I am a good artist and I am good enough! Which is just what my ego wanted...

   After all my students sat at their places, I gave them instructions to start at the top of their canvas and work from light to darker colors. Then I told them to do any shadows last. Remember my newbie from last week named Mary Lou? She was having a slightly harder time at the color grading than the others, so I helped her a little more than the others. That was ego problem #1; the infamous "you can't do this without me and you need my help".

   Next came an artist / instructor cardinal sin. She got frustrated, sighed, and stopped painting for a moment. That opened the door to ego problem #2; "Let me help you." At that moment I took the paint brush out of her hand and painted on her canvas. This is one thing I promised myself many years ago to never EVER to do to a student and here I was being Miss Control Freak Extraordinaire! It was if I stood out of my body and watched myself do this; similar to a premonition and I was just going through the motions to fulfill it. I finally mentally asked myself, "What the hell are you doing?"

   I quickly handed back the brush to my student, and told her to paint the apple red as best she could and walked around the room to the other students. There was ego problem #3; the tried and true "When all else fails, tell someone to do something and walk away." I returned to my struggling newbie about 5 minutes later. She informed me that the apple in her painting didn't look like an apple at all. I suggested that she set it aside and let the oil paint dry for a while. I asked her if she wanted to work on her Easter egg tree and she happily agreed and seemed visibly relieved.

   At that point, I took a breather myself and gave all my students ample breathing room. From a distance, I could see that my newbie was indeed following the directions I gave her of doing the sky first, then adding the trees and foliage to the background, and finally painted in colored Easter eggs. By that point, she was visibly more happy... way more happy.

   This was a valuable lesson for me, even if it was a refresher. I have to let my students make mistakes. It's how they're going to learn. For example, another student who used to be a watercolor painter, had accidentally poured some thinner into a plastic palette and mixed white acrylic paint in it and now had a horrid blue-grey clumpy sky. In this case, I couldn't stop the mess from happening and it couldn't be fixed. Ironically, she was pleased with her results. From my perspective, I was ready to try and "fix it". From her perspective, however, it was all good. Since it's her painting, it's her perspective that matters.

   The third class is tomorrow. I should have the kinks worked out in regards to my class. No unnecessary drama, leave my ego at the door, and let my students be students. Oh, and finally - have fun! Of course, if everything goes to hell in a hand basket, I can always click my heels three times and make each painting perfect... or possibly go back home to my studio... or something like that.

   Until next week,
   Jill

The Artists Life - Painting 101

   Remember last week I mentioned that I was going to start teaching art classes again? Some wise person (of Asian decent I believe) once said, "The hardest part of any journey is the first step." Still so true. It was one thing when a former student emailed me about a month or so ago and inquired if I would teach again. It was one thing when the activity director of the organization agreed on a time frame as well as a price for teaching. It was one thing gathering together all my supplies, my easel, and a materials list. It was an entirely different thing walking into the large recreation area on that lovely, sunny afternoon last Monday about 15 minutes before the class started.

   To my credit, my energy was running high all day along with anticipation. Nervousness really wasn't part of the equation. Even after I met the director face-to-face, I still felt confident. The room contained a very large table with four easels for my students to use. In case there was a student or two that showed up at the last minute, the director was prepared with two more floor easels at each end of the table. I was impressed! I set up my large easel as well as my palette tray with burnt umber (brown) and titanium white at opposite ends. One of my main goals that day was to make sure my students could grasp the concept of mixing colors and finding the right values. This step is called the under-painting.

   After my students meandered in, we had introductions, as well as a brief conversation of everyone's skill level. My former student was fairly modest in her expression of her skill level. It was apparent that she kept on painting and creating over the 10 years since the last time we painted together. Her initial sketch of the seaside landscape she wanted to paint was nothing short of amazing! Two other students admitted they had painted before, but felt they needed some "refresher" pointers. The fourth student confessed she had zero experience at all. Even though I told my students before hand to bring in a picture they would like to paint - which they did - my newbie did not. So, while the other three artists went off pretty much on their own, I hung with beginner named Mary Lou, and we began painting the basic work I had brought to the class; a still life with apples.

   However, before we began, Mary Lou had to switch glasses so she could see her canvas better. While she did that, I briefly went around the room to check on my other three students. Good thing I did, because one of ladies who needed "refresher" points was painting her work on the palette paper, not the canvas that was off to her right. I gently corrected her, she retrieved the canvas, and her partner-in-crime ribbed her a little about it. She coolly responded, "Thank you Jill. Getting old sucks. You're doing a great job. Now go find something wrong with her painting!" as she pointed to her friend. Wow!

   Back to my newbie Mary Lou. We managed to mix colors well, get the sketch part of the painting finished, dabble into perspective a bit, and get an under-painting done. Not bad for 90 minutes! As we began cleaning up, a rather large woman who was also extremely buxom burst into the room and flamboyantly flung her arms into the air and proclaimed, "I'm here to be your nude model!" It's been a while since I've been totally speechless. After about five seconds, I managed to compose myself, went over to our visitor and we shook hands. She just laughed and mentioned she was there to see her friend Mary Lou. I was grateful my first class did not have a display of exhibitionism.

   The activity director came in before everyone was finished and the paintings were still out to be seen. She snapped a few pictures for the organization. She seemed very pleased, as were my students, with this first go around. Thank God she didn't witness the almost naked model audition. After we all finished cleaning up, I collected my fees for my time - business is business after all - but at least we kept a huge element of fun in it... and that's the most important aspect of all.

Until next time,
Jill

The Artists Life - The Snail Farm

   Greetings from coastal Maine in almost mid-February! What this means is, the weather patterns are starting to change. It is yet another dreary weekend, weather wise, outside my windows. Most of the landscape consists of gray skies, snow that's dull in color due to getting watered down by rain drops, or the fact that they're dirty snow banks, and darkened soaked bare trees. You can tell Spring is just over a month away. It's not the prettiest time of year and this is one reason why so many people from northern New England take their vacations and go to warmer, sunnier climates. Mid to late winter fever is starting to set in who are still here. This is especially true when my two oldest grandkids came over to visit for a short spell.

   While I know kids will be kids, and being brother and sister does not help. They are 12 and 11 and getting very good at it. There must be some unwritten, innate law, where brothers and sisters MUST get on each others nerves that has been passed down through the generations. It happened with my brother and I, and it happened with my Mom and her sisters. Sometimes however, we as adults can't escape the occasional bickering, complaining, or bitching. For example, my husband Dave and I played a rousing game of Life with the grand-kiddos. For the um-teenth time, Dave picked the card where he purchases a snail farm for the tidy sum of $50,000 dollars while exclaiming that the game was rigged in some way. The tension mounted as everyone except my grand-daughter was sued by another player, whether it was vandalizing one's fence or smashing another persons prized tomatoes. After a few hours of that and other visiting, I was exhausted! Life whether the game or for real - is indeed exhausting at times. Sometimes I feel the art world can hold the same.

  If "life is what you make it", then interesting is the key word. I began Monday creating three more 8x10 inch oil paintings. I managed to complete one of the works, while the other two are in progress (and they still are). The second still had a perspective flaw and the third had a poor color choice for the water; it became too green for my liking. No matter what I did to those two paintings on Tuesday, I couldn't get either one to "behave", so I put them aside. By the next day, I had to pack my supplies away because I was going to be away for the next two days. By the time I returned, it was practically the weekend, visiting all four of my grandkids, as well as other friends stopping by for a visit. As a result, my paintings are having ample time to dry. If I venture into my studio and sit on the sofa I have there, the paintings can also taunt me because they are not only unfinished, but they also know I don't have the time to seriously work on them. If anyone believes the artists life is easy, then they are not an artist or doing it solo with no other income or both.

   However, this weekend was not a total loss, by any means. I made life what it was meant to be; seeing family and friends, going out on Saturday night with Dave to a coffee shop and seeing a cool, local band, cooking up a storm with him in our smallish kitchen, submitting our book to four more publishers in New York, or hitting up yet another gallery in hopes in displaying my works. Of course, Dave mentioned yet again that we need to open up our own gallery in either Rockland or Camden where there's lots of foot traffic and tourists. I know he's right - we both feel it in our hearts. We just need the right place at the right time. Ten to fifteen years ago, we would've both rushed into an endeavor like that head first and then wondering why 12 months later it failed. Today, we know better and it will come to pass... they way it's meant to be.

Until next time,
Jill

The Artists Life - The Dream Is In The Details

You are what your deep, driving desire is.

As your desire is, so is your will.

As your will, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny.

 - The Upandshads

   Seems pretty heavy, doesn't it? But bear with me for a minute here, and I'll get to the main gist of this as well as the relation to art. First, let's dig a little deeper and clarify a bit;

"If you become crystal clear on how you would love your life, to such a degree that you can't see anything but that, it's almost impossible for you not to get it. Absolute clarity adds vitality and enthusiasm to your actions. You won't rise above and beyond anything you're charged and emotional about, so the best way to do what you love is to love what you are doing right now. State your dream clearly, and then ask yourself how what you're doing right now is preparing you for your dreams. When you love and are grateful for what is, you get the power to turn it into what you love. If you know that no matter what happens, your life is serving your dreams, then nothing can stop you."
 - from the book, The Breakthrough Experience; A New Approach to Personal Transformation, by Dr. John F. Demartini.

   So - what are we saying here? If you are sick and tired of the way your life has been going lately, or over the past decade or two, this book may shed light on your inner challenges as it did for me. Life follows certain principles and when we don't adhere to them, our lives can become a shamble. This book was a combination of three others I've read before. Only one concept was new to me. And while I can't explain it all here, I am still in the process of working the experience.

   However, I am grateful to have read the book, and to be grateful for where I live. Even though our current residence is tiny, I still have studio space where I've been able to paint almost daily for the past two weeks. Currently, I am only using a palette knife on 8x10 inch canvases and hoping I'm creating art that is worthwhile. I sold one work last week, and I've been showing the other works that have garnered positive reviews. I had two or three works that received mixed to colder reviews, but that's to be expected.

   With my somewhat new-found style, I have approached a few galleries over the past three days. While I have to submit images and follow some industry procedures, the meet-and-greet as well as the conversations went very well. One positive aspect is that all these galleries do not have spaces for large works, so the owners were pleased they were smaller in scale.

   Every day I do what I love and work towards my goal - to get more of my art out into the world; to spread the love. This week, I was challenged by too much detail for too small a space in one painting. In another, mixing the colors on the canvas had become tedious. Finally, on the third painting, creativity in creating a floral pleased me immensely.

   I know this a loaded question, but I'm putting it out to the blogging world and the internet void; which painting works the best for you? You don't have to explain yourself in great detail, but what draws you to a particular work? What do you like about one or more of the paintings, even though the style may not be the status quo? It's okay - let yourself go.

   Until next time,
   Jill