Saturday's class....

I am not a "teacher" by training but I do love doing these creative classes and pushing people to go outside of their comfort zone. I teach maybe once a year because of time constraints with my business and family. Once I am in the classroom and interacting it makes me want to do it more often...It is such a joy to get out and see people use my product to make beautiful art. The funny thing is that I learn so much from my students. The way that I set up my classes are more about process and making discoveries, not making an exact replica of the class sample. In the process of creating and making "mistakes" (or what you think is a mistake), I encourage the students to make their mistakes work for them and to push the process with all kinds of layering. There were a few students who were ready to throw in the towel with a few of their initial experiments and I told them to keep pressing on and think of this as their first layer and once they began working with these "mistakes" these pieces became their favorites they did in class. That is the best part of teaching... to see people stretch themselves into zones that aren't comfortable to persevere and to grow as an artist...it is important to enjoy the process and to toss out the preconceived notion about what the final outcome has to be. That is a good life lesson you know...to "surrender" and not try to control situations too much but to work with  what you have in the process of life (wow...I am so philosophical, HA!)

The above image is a sample from one of the students who was ready to throw this piece out because she thought it wasn't working but I told her to keep going and look how beautiful it is!... This piece above is a lesson to never give up!

Thanks to Member Me in San Clemente, California for hosting the class and cutting a few hundred hearts for me, that was awesome. Member Me has a wonderful classroom set-up with  lots of room and a fabulous demo table and they sell great products too.

Here are some more pictures from the day:

(click on the image to see them larger)

Wish I would have taken more photo's of the finished project, there is always next time.

Thanks again Teresa for hosting a lovely class.

Comments

[Kerry O'Connell]

I loved loved loved this class. I finished my book with pictures of my daughter and her favorite things - friends, Dad, brother, horses, etc, and it sits on her table by her bed. Thank you for a a really wonderful class and for teaching us so much. Kerry