This week I have been working on the fourth activity for my course STARTS. Briefly this course teaches you five different ways to make an abstract painting. It’s not a course designed to teach how to paint like me, but in following the process of making these paintings I teach a wide range of techniques both in applying paint and materials to the canvas, and also the student experiences first hand the benefits of working in multiples and following my process. It’s been wonderful to see my students get into their work and the comments I’ve had back has been really heart-warming. I had forgotten how rewarding teaching is when you have students who want to learn and appreciate the efforts you put into making your knowledge accessible.
Watching them grapple with new techniques and ways of working has made me reflect on learning as a journey. I have gone on many learning journeys over the years and they have been as varied as the learnings that took place within them.
When I was in my 40’s I decided I would learn to play tennis. Most people just pick up a tennis racquet sometime in their childhood or adolescence and start playing. I remember picking up the racquet but the playing part just naturally didn’t follow. I am not a fast mover, don’t have quick reactions and basically have zero natural ability in sport. I guess if my parents had introduced me to the idea of moving quickly at a young age I might have learnt how, but they were too busy providing me with brothers and sisters and all that that entails. So I sat on the floor until I was two, only then did I haul myself up and put one foot in front of the other.
“Change is the end result of all true learning.”
So in my mid-40’s when I observed a lovely young Spanish man gently coaxing my young son to watch the ball and follow through, I believed that here was my entry into the sporting arena. I arranged with a group of friends to have weekly coaching sessions. Very soon, the friends found better places to be on a winters morning in the howling wind than on a tennis court, but I persevered. I knew if I stopped I’d never start again, and the miniscule amount of progress I had made would be lost forever.
And so, after 5 years of coaching and a further 3 years of weekly social tennis I was awarded Most Improved Player of the club in 2017. I had advanced from absolutely hopeless to absolutely average in 8 years. But I could play every week. Most times I played I would hit the ball really well at least once and sometimes I had the ability of surprising myself and everyone else of actually playing quite well for a short amount of time. I loved it, and still do.
Another learning path was a much more tumultuous, dramatic and even tortuous journey. This was the tech learning that has taken place over the last 8 weeks in lockdown. In putting my course together I have had to learn how to make a video, talk on video, edit a video, upload a video onto facebook and youtube. I have learnt how to start a facebook group, start a youtube channel, do IGTV. I have started to grapple with the complexities of facebook ads, pixels, lead magnets, ROI, avatars, funnels… All this when you have a brain that seems to only be able to sustain one thought thread at a time and has an escape chute for details that are not embedded with routine consistent repetitive practise. It’s been hard work. There have been tears… But now, 19 videos in the bank, the videos are a cinch. Facebook ads – a work in progress, that Everest has yet to be conquered.
The Art journey for me has been an amalgamation of the tennis journey and the tech journey. It has been at times tumultuous with many moments of despair and disbelief that I could ever improve to the level I sought. But it has also been a long slow marathon of just sticking with it and persevering. When I look back, the most progress has been made when I committed to an (almost) daily practice of a few hours. The momentum built then. And now, even though I am still learning, that will never stop I’m sure, I don’t find the journey tortuous or troublesome. It feels to me like a gentle yet exciting ride.
I just know that if you persevere and are prepared to stick at something you will get the rewards eventually. Patience is required, which I do find difficult because I am constantly jittery with anticipation of the next exciting instalment. What will my next series of paintings look like? Which will be the next painting to sell? What award show will I get accepted for? But actually what I must learn now is to let all that unfold in good time, and just concentrate on the work itself.
So at the end of this week, I will be ready to start my next series of paintings. Which I am very excited about. I am brimming with ideas after working through the small works for the course and am eager to get started.
If you would like to see me work through this series ON VIDEO, come and join my free facebook group The Upbeat Artists Group. I won’t bore you with hours of endless paint mixing, but I will post snippets of my process as I progress from start to finish. Or if you want to see them when they are done sign up for my newsletter to get updates of my latest news.
If you would like information about my course STARTS or any other course I will offer check out my website and join my email list to get notified of when I will be offering it again.