http://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/post/2011/05/09/The-Total-Art-Experience-by-M-Theresa-Brown.aspx

Looking back, I wonder at the huge expense my parents incurred for me to go to college, to the school of art, and leave with no marketable skills nor techniques for painting!  Everything I know today, I learned on my own and with much trial and error! And the interesting fact is that an artist never stops learning or re-inventing techniques, even when she thinks she “has it down!”

Even the simplest of art workshops nowadays empower the participants with knowledge and skills they did not have before entering! So when we hold a workshop in our studio, I take great pleasure in watching the delight of the students when they leave with a painting in a matter of two hours or less! It is the feeling of “I did it myself” that makes their day! So whether you teach an occasional art class, lesson or regular classes, realize that you have just given the gift of discovery to whoever you are teaching!  And especially with adult classes, you have opened up a future for many of them. A future of an endless opportunity to discover art in a thousand or more ways! And that surely beats sitting in front of the TV or computer!

As a parting thought, this couple has embraced the artist life in retirement and were delighted at what they accomplished! It doesn’t get any better than that!

So join a class,teach a class……when you have students who have paid to be there (including you) you have their full attention, enthusiasm and…doesn’t that make YOU feel good?!

Painting Dad

Art as Comfort Food!
by M Theresa Brown

Really, all we needed last night in our studio was a crackling fire to add a little more of the already present ambiance of the evening! Munching away on cookies and relaxing with hot coffee and lemonade (the wine has to be next for the all adult classes!) the two hour class zipped by. It was “comfort food” in the form of art!
Part of the idea behind the START (Stop Thinking Art is Really Tough) classes is to engage and re-engage artists of all ages and give them the opportunity to not only create but to experience new mediums and techniques.

In this class, we concentrated on dog portraits in acrylics. Our mother and teen daughter duo had never used acrylic paints. They travel a lot and were delighted to discover the ease of use and quick dry times of acrylic paints!
Our participating Dad, with his teen daughter, at the class after a long day at the office, relaxed completely as he became immersed in his painting! The interesting thing is how delighted the parents were at their own efforts. All of the participating parents had  re-connected with their art during the mini-workshop and had easily slipped into the Art Zone

I suggested to several adult siblings recently when they asked me how to get their mom back into painting, that with the holidays coming up, they should  purchase some art supplies, as well as an easel and taboret for their mother. Better yet, sneak into her home and set up a mini studio so that all she has to do is walk in and sit down to paint!
Add a gift certificate to a START class and they have given back to their mother, all the encouragement that she showered on them through the years!
The cycle doesn’t get any better than that!