Private Instruction (Teen to adults)
$25/1.5 hr session
When I was a teenager taking art lessons, I had two very different experiences. My first teacher had me drawing the same stack of books on a glass table for many sessions. This taught me discipline.
My second teacher was a free spirit who encouraged me to be creative. While under his instruction, I created a layered oil painting of an African lady (from the National Geographic magazine) with a very colorful headdress. Much to my astonishment, this painting won an award in an art show that my teacher had encouraged me to enter. More than that, it led to my first sale. When I asked him if I should sell it, he said, “Sure! You’ll make more!” (This was some of the best advice I have ever received.)
So, having had this background, I seek to find a middle ground in teaching art. Of course, a certain amount of self-discipline is important. Students must exhibit patience while learning the principles of art, especially while sharpening drawing skills and learning things such as perspective, but they should also be encouraged to find their own special way of demonstrating creativity in art. All teaching leads to this end.
These classes, designed for the serious art student, are taught as one art principle being built upon another. It’s important to structure the classes in this way, in order to provide a sense of order – building one principle upon another.
Once we have explored each of the elements and principles of art and go on to mixing colors and experimenting with various media, students will have the opportunity to work from still life set-ups according to theme, and to work from objects and/or photos of subjects that have special meaning to them, or to simply just to explore the process.
Along the way, we will look at and discuss artists and their techniques. The primary goal is to encourage students to invent their own methods of creative expresssion. That is, they will learn to see as an artist sees and to express their creative individuality in a manner that is special and unique to them!