Good Workshops vs. Not-So-Good Workshops

Beth (my sister who is visiting from Georgia) and I have been taking a couple of art classes.  One class has been very helpful.  We've both completed paintings we really like because of that one class.  The teacher briefly demonstrates a technique or something we've asked about (like how to paint clouds), and then the rest of the time each person works on his/her own painting -with the teacher circulating and offering specific help.  We actually paint at least 80-90 percent of the time we are in class.  She starts each class on time - and has an agenda posted.  She has each of us share what we've worked on during the week - with comments/critiques welcome.  The preparation and organization create a really good sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm among the students.

The other class - not so much.  This last session we didn't paint at all - in a 5-hour class.  Well, we did a color wheel, which I guess is technically painting.   It was helpful in some ways because I really need to work on color.  However, except for the color wheel, it was just a lot of waiting, watching the teacher paint, and before she painted she spent a good fifteen minutes sifting through stacks of photographs, giving us a running commentary on the photos, trying to decide what she wanted to paint for her demo.  Really!  Talk about lack of planning and lack of respecting people's time!  I think it would have been SO much more effective and helpful if she had chosen a small object or scene, and used that to do a 15-minute demonstration of how painting values makes the painting "appear."  That's what she kept talking about during her two-hour painting demo.  However, it was so convoluted, and we couldn't see the photograph she was painting from very well - and so the lesson was mostly wasted.  Plus after sitting and watching her paint for two hours, all the creative fervor was sucked right out of the students.

And that was actually one of the better classes with that particular teacher. We'd signed up and paid for a series of lessons. She's just not that helpful, in my opinion. Or in Beth's opinion. Before Beth signed up, I told the teacher that Beth uses acrylics, and I asked if that would be okay for her class.  Oh sure - that would be great. Then we found out during the first class that the teacher has never used acrylics.  So she couldn't really help Beth much with her painting.

Unfortunately for me, on the first day - being my ever enthusiastic self - I signed up for the second 4-week session she has planned - not only signed up for it but I also went ahead and paid for it.  I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, and I DO want to maintain a good relationship with that artist and with that studio; so I will soldier on and get as much out of the next 4 lessons as I can. I am confident that if I make sure I have something I want to work on each week, the second four weeks will be better. Beth was glad she only paid for one 4-week session, though. Neither of us will ever do a workshop with that instructor again.

Despite the less than ideal workshop, it's good to experience both good and not-so-good teachers.  That's life.  And I learned things even from the not-so-good class.  If I ever lead a painting class or workshop, I now know more about what makes a painting demonstration helpful.  I know that being prepared is vital. I know a painting demonstration is worthless if the students can't see what the instructor is painting from - the still life or the photograph or the scene. And the students have to see it from the teacher's viewpoint.  Otherwise, it's too confusing trying to figure out why the teacher is doing what she's doing.  I know having a schedule or agenda makes everyone more comfortable and things flow more smoothly.  The not-so-good teacher didn't schedule lunch or a break - which made it rather awkward.

When the good teacher does a demo, she sits at a table and has us gather around her to watch her demonstrate a technique. Although there's exactly the same number of students in both classes, the techniques for demo'ing differ a lot.  The good teacher demos something small - and then we work on that in our own paintings.  SO effective and helpful.  Not-so-good teacher demos an entire painting - which takes a long, long time.  She does it standing at an easel in front of the room (which means she blocks the easel to some extent - and with everyone sitting at chairs around the room, there is no way to see exactly what the teacher is painting. Usually by the time it's done, my brain is too fried to even want to paint. Once (in another class) when the good teacher had a still life set up and she was going to demo how to go about painting it, she printed out 8 1/2 x 11 copies of the still life from exactly the angle she would be painting.  That way - even though she worked at an easel in front of the room -we could follow it easily.  The preparation made a big difference.

The not-so-good teacher said in class the other day, "If you notice a color in your reference photo that stands out to you, go ahead and paint it onto your canvas.  You don't have to wait until after you've blocked in the main values."  I was painting from a photo of a house with fields around it and a road running beside it.  There was a bright yellow line down the middle of the road. I painted it because it stood out to me.  She came over and said, "No, no, you painted that yellow too soon.  It's too soon for details like that!" and she proceeded to take the brush and take out some of the yellow.  No biggie - but a little consistency would be nice. She's a wonderful artist.  I love her work.  I wonder, though, how experienced she is as a teacher.  Has she done so few that she doesn't quite know how to make things better?  Has she done so many that she doesn't really care?  I don't know.  I feel bad that I encouraged Beth to take the class, and she spent the money and didn't get much out of it at all.  Actually Beth feels that she wasted her money on the class. And I feel bad since I recommended it. Thank goodness for the good class!