This has been a challenging week. Sometimes you get news that you wish you did not get but you still have to go on with life and keep going. I don’t plan to share the news that arrived on our doorstep (figuratively not literally speaking) but instead I want to write a bit about how you keep going and moving even when you get news that you did not welcome in the door.
Here’s my advice: Try something new. Be a total beginner. Jump into something you think is impossible and discover it actually is possible after all. Let me be absolutely clear: I don’t mean to literally JUMP! Not unless you are a lot younger than my 70+ years old knees!!
One thing that saw me through this week is that I completed the fourth session of my acrylic painting class. I had never really painted with acrylics before this class and it was righty classified as a class for complete beginners. Our instructor, artist Susan Sinyai, did an excellent job of walking us through the various steps and supply lists and helpful tips as well as sharing her keen eye on how to “fix” a painting in process when you knew it wasn’t right but you didn’t know how to get it to that right point.
This was true with both the two paintings we completed in this class. One was a painting of a bluebird. I am fairly pleased with this one even though my bluebird’s head is a little rounder than it should be and I cheated on the feet by just making them more of a smudge. At least I think most people would recognize that it is indeed a bluebird.
The second painting was a landscape and in truth, I would have totally bombed this one if Susan had not come to the rescue. She did and now I even feel relatively pleased with this one. I learned an important lesson: sometimes you just need to stop. Sometimes if you keep messing with something it will get worse not better. Probably a good life lesson, too.
I am not sure if I will continue with acrylic painting. Until the 4th and last class, my thoughts were more along the lines of “once this class ends I will never paint with acrylics again.” I could feel myself vowing to stick with watercolors and collage and my always-favorite mosaics. But by the last class, I realized I was not as adamant about giving up on acrylic painting.
I think the real challenge will be to work on a painting without my wonderful beginner colleagues and Susan at my side each moment as the paint dries (which, by the way, acrylic paint dries EXTREMELY fast—but there are some handy tricks of the trade to help with that as well)!
I do remember that I had actually briefly painted with acrylics when I was in high school. I have always loved art though more from an art history standpoint than a creative studio perspective. I think, when I was younger, I was timid about trying something as new as painting as no one in my immediate family painted or did art of any type. The exception would be that our mother kept us well supplied with coloring books and I did attend a private kindergarten (the only type there was in those days) that let us draw everyday on that manilla paper.
For many years I thought it was “vanilla” paper because its color bore a strong resemblance to vanilla ice cream especially the less expensive variety that filled our home freezer. Let me share that it is indeed MANILA paper and was probably used in my kindergarten class—and schools today— because it is a very inexpensive paper.
Manila paper got its name from a type of hemp plant—abaca—grown in the Philippines. It was named after Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Originally made from recycled abaca rope fibers, the primary source later changed because wood pulp was less expensive to both source and to process. But as Wikipedia shares, “…the name and the color remain.” As adults most of us are more familiar with manila file folders than manila drawing paper.
I have always loved art and drawing but until I retired (with the exception of taking several icon writing/painting classes at Kanuga with Suzanne Schleck) art stayed in the box that I had labeled as “I am not very good at this”.
That label was emphasized by my high school art teacher. It is not too extreme to say she hated my paintings and most of my other art work. I feel fortunate that I have forgotten her name. I do remember I did a painting of the blues singer Leadbelly and she could not say enough bad things about it. Was it really that bad? I wish I still had that painting to look at with my older, wiser, less insecure eyes. Did she hate it because the painting was bad? Or because I chose an old black blues singer as my subject matter? I don’t know and won’t ever know.
What I do know is that we should never let someone else’s opinion keep us from trying something new. We should never let someone else’s opinion keep us from continuing to do something that we love—or could love. I only took that one art class and then only took art history classes in college.
I did stumble into weaving at John C. Campbell Folk School while filming a documentary for the Appalachian Regional Commission as a graduate student and then later went on to an apprenticeship with Edwina Bringle at Penland School of Crafts. Somehow I managed to keep that artist part of me alive, but I stayed carefully away from painting.
Learning something new, especially if it is challenging, helps distract you from your everyday fretting and worrying so this class was a true gift. It doesn't have to be art. It can be cooking—try your hand at making a soufflé or baking brownies from scratch. It can be writing. Try writing a haiku or two. Join in Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Words A Day challenge. It can be training to work at the polls for Election Day. Have you always wished you could play the piano? Take some lessons and give it a try. One of the truest gifts I know is to let yourself be a true beginner at something. It can do wonders for your spirit if you just let go of wanting to be perfect. Step back and just enjoy it!
It is a gift to reach the age of not being afraid to try new things. I will say that this is one of the best gifts of getting older. Part of it is that you just don’t care whether you are the greatest ever and some of it is just reaching the age of thinking, “Well, why not?” Perhaps there is also that sense of realizing that you aren’t going to live forever, so why not give it a try. We should all realize this at a much younger age. And not just about art.
So acrylic painting saved my mind and heart this week. It allowed me to not think of things that were just too hard and too painful to think about. Art can do that, you know. Anything that is new and a challenge can do that. Give it a try. And then be like the tortoise and don’t let anyone stop you. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.
Jeanne, I’m so impressed by your willingness to jump in and try these things. I love your paintings and I’m betting Granny Penny would’ve loved them too. Sending good juju your way. ❤️
I’m so incensed over the comments from a (supposed) art teacher! We are retired now and I’ve always loved crafts of any kind. And always willing to try about any of them. I’m lucky to have a husband that will go along with about anything I want to try. Except painting or drawing! He says his college art teacher on the first day encouraged him to drop the class! Told him he had no art ability whatsoever. That has stayed with him all these many years. I get furious every time I think about it. Art is for EVERYONE! And teachers are supposed to teach not discourage! I’m not giving up, one of these days I hope he will give it a try. Love your writing and art♥️