Last night we had a new lady come to art class. She arrived early and we fell into an easy chat before everyone else arrived. She told me she was scared and nervous and not very good at art and she showed me some of the drawings she’d done recently, and she said she wanted to learn and be better. So we had the class and before long she was relaxed and chatting and enjoying herself. I could see that her painting was going to be beautiful, but she didn’t believe me and said I was being kind and nice (which I am, usually).
So one of the things I do many times during my classes is I hold everyone’s painting up so they can see it from a distance, that’s when you can see how your art is progressing and what you need to do to keep working on it. So that’s what I did. I asked this lovely lady to close her eyes, I picked up her painting and stepped back and held it up, then she opened her eyes wide and literally gasped with wonder. I truly love those ‘gasp’ moments, that’s when you realise that you CAN do it, that you can make a beautiful painting.
And she left at the end of class with a huge smile, a bit more confidence and a vow to come back and keep learning. That’s why I teach art, it lights me up and gladdens my heart, I just love it.