My students and I have been looking through old painting journals and books for projects to add to our fall schedule. I found a beautiful Jackie Shaw ribbon and mistletoe design in a Dec 2000 issue of Decorative Artist Workbook, some of you will remember them. It was a wonderful magazine back then and actually one of my first introductions to decorative painting back in the 1980’s. Anyway, back to the ribbon design.
When I showed the design to the students the first reaction was “how beautiful”. When I asked if they would like to paint the design on an ornament, the next reaction was “it’s ribbon!!, oh, no! I can’t paint ribbon! It’s so difficult.” “Well,” I said, “that’s the very reason that we need to paint this design then.”
Students take painting classes to learn, to grow, and to stretch. Classes aren’t needed to paint something that you already know how to paint. There’s always something new to learn, something new to get excited about. So let’s get uncomfortable, let’s stretch our skills. Let’s enjoy learning.
