January 6, 2019
Normally one waits until the end of a message to express feelings of thanks, but today I want all of my students to know how much I enjoyed working with them this year. All of you did amazing work and together I feel that we had a good deal of fun. Here is a recap of what the 2018 teaching program was like:
Classes Held: 82
Students Taught: 99
Hours I Spent Teaching: 330 +
Hours Spent in Preparation and Cleanup: 100 +
A healthy percentage of those classes involved brand new students. Many of those were the result of your referrals and for that I am so appreciative. I also had a good number of students that found me on Facebook. A few were found us at events like Art in the Park and even the Pop Up Sales that I have sometimes in my yard.
While this seems like a lot, it was not so many years ago that Wanda and I were traveling to teach group classes where we would have 12 students in each class and often held these classes 5 to 7 days a week. I don’t want to even think about how many hours went into those years. And I have to say that I much prefer my current teaching circumstances. Working with one or two students at a time allows me to give close personal attention to what the student is doing and that results in a better learning experience for them.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER
I can’t think of a better way to end the year than by having dual winners of this recognition. Andrea Bucher and Jana Petersen completed a 5 day workshop in December and their work was excellent:
Each day would begin with a practice session that lasted 2 or more hours. Then they would clean that canvas for use the next day after which they would use those techniques to complete a painting which then went home with them. As you can see, the work payed off.
ART AND SOUL
Once again one of the biggest art events of the Magic Valley is about to begin. I am going to give you a link to the Magic Valley Arts Council that will tell you all about it. I am in hopes that some of my young students will consider entering into that competition. If you do, please let me know so I can follow up on it. Here is the information: www.MagicValleyHas.Art.com
WHAT IS NEXT?
2019 has every indication that I will be even busier. Lots of you purchased gift certificates as Christmas gifts and my early January schedule is starting to fill up. I hope that this year will result in being able to introduce more people to the Joy of Painting and that many of you will consider one of my workshops. I showed you the paintings that resulted from the Adult Workshop. You will also remember Ayda Bowman who took the abbreviated Youth Workshop. Ayda has now graduated from youth classes to the more advanced adult instruction:
I hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Pat Alsup CRI®