I was just analyzing something in my head…
I know several people with awesome business concepts. They should be hugely successful, and are not. Then I know people with just mediocre business concepts who are very successful. Both of these concepts involve very tight interaction with participants. I honestly think it all boils down to personality and sincerity, like most things do in life. I think people will always gravitate to someone who can laugh at them self, people who don’t profess to be an expert on anything, but rather just “one of them”, and are humble…and have passion, and not only when it applies to whatever business concept they are selling.
Both these business concepts are classes…and I think people can come to a class, and still produce something less-than-perfect, but if they had a great time doing so, and laughed and enjoyed the process, despite the outcome of the final product, they will want to come back. If they felt “stupid” and was harped on by the instructor to do it “this way or it will not turn out”…they aren’t going to appreciate the class or return regardless of how their project turned out.
Brainstorming here…what do you guys think? People keep asking me to do classes in the various art forms I do. I will be honest…I hate rules, and think many of them are to made to be broken, because that is when you learn really cool new things…or you fail. But the chance of learning something cool and new is super-interesting to me.
Example…I failed my watercolor class in college. FAILED. MY. WATERCOLOR. CLASS. Let that soak in. My professor told me to get a new hobby, as I would never be any good at watercolor. Like most things, when I am told I CAN’T do it, I am going to go out of my way to actually do it. I bought every book (this was pre-internet)…studied, and taught myself. Now, if that same professor saw my watercolors today, she’s STILL fail me because I paint too tight, too realistic and ‘watercolor isn’t tight and realistic.”
Sixteen years ago, I was on vacation in upper Minnesota, and found some watercolors that spoke to me. They were done by an artist named Marie Sweeney. When I got home, I actually located her in Rice Lake, WI and had a wonderful phone conversation. She gave me a tip that literally changed how I do my paintings to this day. When she told me this tip, I freaked out–it was something I would never, in a million years, DREAM of doing to my paintings. She told me when her paintings get too “tight”, she would spritz them with a spray bottle and let the paint run where it would. Well, I never did it. Not until three years ago, and I wasn’t painting anything serious, I had no commissions, and didn’t care what happened to my painting…and it turned out MAGICAL. It changed everything. I wasn’t even doing art back then, I just did it for fun. AND LOVED IT.
So, my point is, in these classes, even though you want to teach technique, and the “right way,” I find that my best art, and most joy, comes from “happy accidents.” The happy accidents don’t ALWAYS happen, but when they do, they are wonderful.
Even looking at the painting above–I was THRILLED at how it turned out. It spawned my art career. It lit a fire, and got me started again. However, NOW when I look at it, I see definite things I would change and I grimace looking at them. And that is what bugs me about the classes, and how I see them taught. What might be “right” is not necessarily what will bring joy to that student at that moment, and isn’t the fun part of art to just ENJOY it? The current Joyce would have told that Joyce of three years ago that the shadows under the tree roots are not strong enough and the tree looks like it is floating. If I had been told that back then, it might have taken away some of that pure joy I felt when this came off my table three years ago.
So, that is what I struggle about most when contemplating teaching classes. I personally think having fun, and getting joy out of the several hours is more important than yammering on about getting a technique right or wrong. What do you think?
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