Workshop Teacher

On Friday, February 24th, I attended a workshop on watercolor in  Island Heights, at the Ocean County Artist Guild. My sister Margaret and I went together to this one day painting workshop. This well known artist is very talented, and has some wonderful tips to teach as I learned when I have taken his class before. He asked for a sample from someone, and I had my two Palm Trees painting with me. I was now the subject of his critique. At first he was somewhat complimentary, asking me if I show my work. He said he does not enter juried shows often. HMMMM, does his work get rejected too? I wonder. He then repainted my piece -changing up the composition a bit and letting the paint flow in great pools of greens and browns and tropical blues. His 10 minute painting is so different from mine. He told me to loosen up and not try to paint each blade of grass and each frond of the palms. I thought I was quite loose. He exhibited such a command of the medium, it flowed from his brush effortlessly, not leaving behind a muddy mess. I did not feel his affirmation for my painting in his critique of the forest-stream scene I attempted. The birch trees were not white enough, far too much coverage of paint on the paper, my stream looked unnatural and my trees were not believable. I painted like a 10th grader! The man in front of me in this class assured me that I was doing better than his sixth grade critique. I think that a teacher/ mentor needs to give a bit more constructive criticism to an unsure artist. Find something we do right and at least give us positive feedback for that. We all know we are not as talented as you are, dear teacher, but we do not wish to feel like perhaps we should throw in the towel.

I have taken these types of classes before and while I do sometimes feel inspired and ambitious at the end of the day,  confusion sometimes sets in as well. Maybe the humility of the situation is enough for me to work harder and to overcome some of the quirks in my creative process that make me ordinary. Do I make up for being ordinary by being ambitious? Painting several times a week for hours on end has to be the path I need to take to improve my technique and not get myself lost in trying to duplicate the many methods of a variety of mentors I have learned from. I need to remember to take what I can from these classes, apply it to my own creativity and if it works for me, move forward with it. If not leave it behind.

In my quest for 52 paintings this year, I am not sure that my classroom practice applies to this number. I am not attempting to fill in 52 slots with art I did not feel truly creative about.

I am currently working a a still life of fruit and a tea pot. I set up the still life setting, shot a photo and ate some of the fruit as I sketched.