A NEW YEAR OF ART CLASSES BEGIN
I am pleased to begin another year of teaching acrylic painting. The technical school where the classes are now held is a really nice facility and it happens to be close to my home, so it's very convenient for me as well.
One thing I am happy about is that my classes are becoming very popular. They fill quickly and so we have had to find a larger room to accommodate more students. When I arrived at the school where the class is held, more and more people kept coming into my room. By the starting time, I had 18 students! Thank goodness they provide a projector and screen so everyone can see what I am doing on my canvas as this is my largest class ever.
As I mentioned before, I am adding some of the curriculum from the color mixing book by Dr. Betty Edwards. My husband and I agreed that I should contact Dr. Edwards and make sure it was ok to use her work. I certainly don't want to break any copyright laws! So, I wrote asking permission and gave her some information on myself, plus my website.
Well, to my surprise, she replied very quickly! She was so very nice and thanked me for my interest and praise. She said she had looked at my website, liked my work, and gave me permission to teach! I am very excited about this!
All I have to do now is decided how much I can add into the Acrylics class. Then, I must decide when I teach color mixing as a separate course, where would I teach? I can add a class at the school where I teach now, or I can hold independant workshops at the Art Studio, where I think it would do better with both artists and students attending. It would have to be a 3 or 4 full-day workshop at the very least if I went through the entire course that's in the book. Dr. Edwards has a workshop on her book, but it lasts a week, it's hard to find one close enough, and is VERY EXPENSIVE! Mine won't be so expensive because I'm new at teaching this method, and the benefits will be great for me and for those in the class. I gain even more experience as a teacher and the students will learn valuable lessons. I am getting all my teaching materials together now so I can get started as soon as possible. Most likely I will wait until after this current class is finished though, so I can concentrate on the new curriculum.
For anyone serious about improving their art and mastering color mixing, this step is a must! If you haven't already done so, do yourself a favor and buy this book! Set aside as much time as you can to study and do ALL the exercises, even the more involved ones, then prove to yourself how much you have learned by painting a beautiful scene with your newfound knowledge. You will be as amazed at the difference in your work as I was with mine! You will be proud of your accomplishment!
I published my latest painting using her principles, but I finally added the birds and named it, so here it is again. I hope you enjoy it. I also have a photo of our first painting done in class. Enjoy, and see you next week!
 |
| 'THE WELCOME COMMITTEE" 11 x 14 Acrylic on canvas |
 |
| "PELICAN REST" 14 X 18 These paintings are not as detailed and complete as my others. A painting done in class must be simple enough to finish in the two hour class period. I particularly liked this one as I gave everyone a black & white photo to work from and asked them to choose whatever color they wanted and to arrange the pilings as they wanted. The results were wonderful! |
