Speaking of Art Blog

On the Wing, pastel, 8x8"

1.  This is going to be so great.

2.  This is hard.

3.  This is crap.

4.  I am crap.

5.  This might turn out OK.

6.  This is awesome.

Have you seen this list before?  So true for a creative, right?  We start out with a heaping helping of anticipation and hopefulness, but then the work itself and slogging through the mud bog us down.  Next comes doubt about the work turning out at all like we envisioned, and then comes #4: “I don’t know why I even get up in the morning.  I have no talent at all.”  Oh, and #6?  Many times, for me anyway, I don’t even make it to #6.  #5 is where I land.

Well, guess what?  For instructors of anything that involves teaching students a creative art, this list applies to them twice as hard.  No matter how much you slice and dice and try to explain the creative process to a student, there is still something of a mystery to it.  There’s still magic involved.  That’s because it’s not something totally teachable.  Students sort of catch it in the air, or at least we art teachers hope they do.  It’s intangible.  Because of that, when a student does NOT get in the groove and/or does not connect with the instructor or their artwork, we conscientious teachers blame ourselves for that.  Yep, I’m guilty as charged.  One disgruntled student can make me go into a tailspin for weeks.

So, what keeps a teacher going?  Positive feedback.  WE ALL NEED POSITIVE STROKES, even teachers, no matter what our age and no matter what the age of our students.  Here is what an adult pastel student wrote to me in an email message just recently, that articulated the intangible to me and touched me:

“Be assured, Mary Ann, that you have and will continue to inspire your students.  You can’t help it.  Your love for the medium just flies off you like colored pastel pigment, and settles on the people you meet.  I have had the good fortune to catch some multicolored dust myself.”

So beautiful!  This compliment will keep me going for weeks and even years of teaching to come.  Right now I’ve attained #6, but paraphrased: Teaching pastel painting is awesome.  Thank you.