IT's the berries ....

I had the daffodil lesson ready to go for my afternoon One on One Class and the student wrinkled her nose ... "I  like berries (not daffodils)."

So, we went forward with a cute little painting idea of leaves and berries instead of  my favorite yellow flowers.

It caught me off guard at first,
even though I tell my students the classes are their time and encourage their ideas.
Most of my students are comfortable with my ideas and give suggestions for "next time".
This was a roll with the punches lesson that turned out well (thankfully) and the student was very pleased with her painting and I (giggle) was pleased with mine as well.

I think it helped me get away from my regular subject "comfort zone". As a teacher, I invent several lessons and subject approaches every week and it was enlightening to just jump into the berries ... not a subject I have selected for myself over the years.

So the insightful lesson for the day ... don't get suck in a rut, it can happen to us all!

Try spontaneous selection for your warm ups or sketches.

I tell my students to sketch the alphabet (skipping letters if they can not think of anything and returning to those letters, later). I now think I will encourage this practice even more often.

I am off to the studio, preparing to teach my Wednesday watercolor class this afternoon, Magnolia Blossoms .... unless they want berries!

Layers in words!

Just had a fellow artist/student ask why she was having so much trouble journaling on her beautiful pages... these were my words to her.

Don't be so hard on yourself little grasshopper.
Try lists instead of sentences.
Start a page for each letter in the alphabet,
add a few words, cut them out of magazines or newspaper, practice your calligraphy.
Skip a page if you can't think of anything right away
and go back to that letter/page when you think of additional words for that page.

Your pages are finished and beautiful so you are thinking your words have to be finished and beautiful - but like the many layers of color and texture on the pages, your words can build up layer by layer too.

Goodness - that sounds like so much fun ... I think I will do that myself!!!!!