Igniting the Fire

"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire"

                                       .....  WB Yeats

Class photo from my workshop in Highlands, NC

Just got back from teaching a fun 2 day workshop on painting landscapes at The Bascom Center for the Arts in Highlands, NC.  The Bascom is a beautiful  facility that I have been teaching at for several years and I'll be returning in May and August of 2013. I had an enthusiastic bunch of students who were willing to step out of their comfort zone and try some new approaches to landscape elements. 

 I love the opening quote above by WB Yeats. I try to remain true to this as an instructor and not only provide information and "how to's" but also to encourage students to free themselves from the judgment of the little voices  of self- doubt that sometimes show up in our head. That self criticism can really impede learning because we can be preoccupied listening to that voice and feeling bad  or discouraged instead of being open and receptive to what we might learn.

 I hope this week  I have "lit the fire" for  a few more students, opening up the door to the passion and magic of painting. It is an amazing thing that we can place colors and shapes of paint on paper or canvas and that can become something- a piece of art that connects with someone else and gives us joy in the process.

Practiced painting skies, mountains, trees and water.

Yes, blue and yellow make green, but which blue and which yellow?
We did studies to find ways to make greens found in nature

More on the vast array of different greens that we can mix, not only blues and yellows, but also by warming up thalo green with the other warmer colors we have on our palettes.


I have a short video on mixing greens on YouTube:

 

Have you ever made a lollipop tree? Guilty, as charged.

Hope everyone had fun and learned a lot!