Teaching, Sheltering Arms painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

Sheltering Arms, by Jo-Ann Sanborn 2010
acrylic on canvas, 24"x36"

When you take an art class or a workshop, what do you expect to get out of it? That's one of the first questions I ask when starting a new class. It's a lot easier to meet people's expectations if you know what they want. Will you be expecting the teacher to shelter and guide you, or will you expect to work hard to gain knowledge the teacher has and you want to learn?

When I first started teaching, I wondered if I knew enough and would be able to offer enough to my students, but I found that I love to organize the material, and to teach in a sequential way. I like to present material so that students understand it, and then have them do some work to learn, and then looking at the results. I'm also a fan of handouts, so students have the material to recall and refresh.

Lately I've been teaching in short, two hour increments in four week sessions. Each session can stand alone. This is perfect for getting a concept or idea across. Students can take work home if they want, work on it during the week, and bring it back if there are questions.

I'll be teaching a class on Color Confidence at the Art League of Marco Island in January. It will start January 4, so all of you who are just coming back, or who might be away from Marco Island for the holidays may want to sign up before you go. We'll work hard to learn why color mixing is so hard and about color value and color temperature and why they are important. We'll have fun, but I know you'll learn a lot too.

If you're not interested in the hows and whys, and just want to try a little painting, sign up for one of the "Palette Parties" at Rightside Studios. I'll be leading "Mostly Monet" on Monday, but it's all sold out. Our next one will be on Nov. 29. It might make a memory with family or older grand kids, and it might introduce you to a whole new world!