The Art of Letting Go

Art

Creating, drafting, editing, and photographing using this blog as a platform has fostered connections while building my digital self. I have grown fond of posting my thoughts about various topics and hearing responses and feedback. It has built digital caring- my term for caring on the web. I’ve had people mention my blog to others, boosting my page views and family members have noted that they enjoy reading my posts as well. It’s a kind of deeper connection that has built, prompting side conversations and threads.

Actual artwork as a digital banner

While sharpening my new skill over the past few weeks, I recently challenged myself to apply what I’ve spent several weeks practicing. I used pure watercolors to create a piece, which will be used for a digital course banner. The hardest part was creating the form- making it look three dimensional. I paid close attention to was building layers of colors- softer, soft, and then darker colors. My goal was to make it look easy and effortless- to me that’s what so appealing. Art that looks the easiest, is the most difficult to make. Similar to the subject I teach- American Sign Language (ASL). Students walk into the class thinking, ASL is so easy. A few weeks go by and their opinions have changed. I’m not sure if the piece I created will be well-received or even end up as the courses banner. I’m proud of myself for trying something different and stretching the boundaries of the “norm.”

Collaborating

Rosa St. Patrick
by Dolores Pope

I really enjoy collaborating with other artists and try to learn any and everything from them. I have an artistic mentor who taught me how to express myself through watercoloring. She originally taught me the craft a few years ago and we’ve been connected ever since. Since then, we collaborated a few time for “Art days” as we called them; an afternoon dedicated to learning, exploring, and playing. We would warm up by doing continuous drawings, which is extremely challenging for your mind to look ahead at the lines while also focusing on the lines being drawn at the moment. She helped build my palette by encouraging me to select my preferred colors, even when I was intimidated by the commitment that meant. My hope is that I can support her artistic expression as she’s helped support mine. I began a large project; writing and illustrating a children’s book for my son. She provided strategies for me to help draw the same main character multiple times because I was scared to duplicate the character poorly. She never uses phrases like, “You have to…” or “Do it this way…” The most beautiful part of all this is, she is a natural born teacher. Her teaching style was never derived from a credential program or developed through experience. She exemplifies pure natural teaching. My Aunt Dolores has truly made a significant impact to a positive learning process. I feel extremely blessed to be connected to her through family and now artistically.

Opaque or Transparent

While contemplating where to begin with learning how to “blend” watercolors, I read a few posts by Brenda Swenson about watercolor paint types. The idea is, before you can blend or layer colors, the artist needs to understand how the colors will work or not work with one another. Her post, “Watercolor: Understanding Opaque and Transparent Paints” explained the importance of understanding how your colors will appear with multiple glazes.

My work station

I decided to complete my own reference to show which of my palette colors are opaque or transparent, as she recommends. Brendon notes that she still references her test swatches. She instructs swatches be made to understand your paints before beginning. Opaque colors, when layered, can appear muddy and may result in a look that was not intended.

My swatch: showing my opaque and transparent colors.

While creating my own swatches, I learned a few other significant factors to my paints. 1) I was surprised at the result of the colors, even using the same amount of paint. I gathered the same amount of water to paint ratio and pressed it to the paper. Some paints (Permanent Rose) were extremely vibrant, while others (Leaf Green) looked softer. 2) While creating these swatches, I used a professional grade brush, which holds the color better. I’m thinking the reason I dislike some of my previous projects is because I’m mainly using watercolors with a transparent nature; meaning more of the white surface will penetrate through. My preference, as I previouslyposted, is a result of more vivid, stark, and bright colors. This was a huge help with truly understanding the tools I’m using.

Looking forward, I would like to use more opaque colors. I believe the next step is to learn and understand how to properly blend opaque colors without them looking muddy.

Sharpening Skills

In 2013, a large group of family and friends headed to experience the outback of Bryce Canyon, Utah. We were in a propane run cabin and laughter filled the air every campfire. Prior to us leaving for this trip, I asked one of the family members going, if she’d teach a group of us how to watercolor. This family member is a truly remarkable gifted artist. With some reluctance, she agreed, and I was extremely excited. On the wooden balcony overlooking an open pasture of grazing longhorns and the stunning view of Bryce Canyon above, Watercoloring 101 began. We learned basic brush strokes, types of brushes, the difference between the amount of water used, watercolor paint quality, and the importance paper can play in a piece. Then she said, “Play!” She gave us artistic freedom to “mess” with different paints, colors, blending, paper- basically everything she just showed us. I believe her method of teaching of learning exploration is the reason I still continue to watercolor today.

This palette of pure watercolors looks way easier than it
actually is.

Now in 2015, I would be open to trying new techniques or mastering come concepts I still have difficulty with. I would greatly like to working on blending pure watercolors. I tend to use watercolor crayons or pencils because I prefer the sharp and brightness they reveal. In my opinion, I would think to claim yourself to be a watercolor artist; you’d better know how to blend the colors correctly to get the intended results.

It’s hard to express a time frame for this process. Art is an ongoing craft always needing attention. To explain this in more detail I turn to Danny Gregory, and truly remarkable artist and gifted writer:

“Learning the tried-and-true ways of making art is not necessarily the way to make great art. It is simply the way to rehash the lessons we’ve already learned, to make more art that is ready familiar. Instead you want to create new and exciting directions, to take risks, to see the world afresh, to find answers to new questions. Learning to draw is not like cooking Boeuf Bourguignon, a set of steps one can follow from raw ingredients to final delicious product. Instead it is a voyage, an excursion into the wilderness, an adventure that is mainly rewarding for its own sake, not for its results.”

Resources and Websites:

Aunt Dolo- my first teacher and artist companion

Danny Gregory

Brenda Swenson- website has great tutorials 

1. Keeping a Watercolor Sketchbook 
2. Steps to Success in Watercolor

Creative Thursday

The Painting Workbook

A Shift in Culture

Over the past five months, I’ve been opposed to the rapidly changing world of education. In November, I started a new position as an eLearning Systems Operation Manager. This was a leap of faith for me. I abandoned the traditional classroom, textbooks, and face to face learning environment and replaced it with digital systems, classrooms that are virtual, Skype is the new norm, and I’m supporting students around the globe. This was a significant culture shock for me. Within the past few months, I’ve had to learn about digital learning pedagogy, new systems, and being a part of a rapidly growing online school. I’m the type of learner that goes all in by researching, seeking to understand experts in the field, and absorbing any information I can. Then, I became overwhelmed with questions, “Why aren’t we doing this?” and “Maybe I should be doing that?” These questions made me question my decisions to jump into the virtual classroom. I became over critical because I gained too much knowledge too quickly. This is why teacher scaffold the learning process. When teacher “dump” too much information too quickly, it could overburden the student. In this case, I overburdened myself. I became agitated and frustrated with all this new knowledge and nothing to apply it to. If I were in the physical classroom, I’d try the new methods the next day! I can’t do that anymore. Again, this was a culture shock and adjustment for me. In A New Culture of Learning the authors Thomas and Brown mention, “The new culture of learning is based on three principals: (1) The old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world. (2) New media forms are making peer-to-peer learning easier and more natural. (3) Peer-to-peer learning is amplified by emerging technologies that shape the collective nature of participation with those new media.” My role as the teacher- giver of information is shifting to teacher/mentor/coach- one who encourages peer-to-peer learning. I’m not the sole means of learning a subject anymore. Student can seek information on the Internet to become teachers themselves. This is a huge shift for me. My heart has started to recognize this shift; I just need my brain to slow down to allow this new culture to sink in.

Building Strengths

Hello and welcome to my Blog. Everything about Learning will highlight personal stories and current educational practices. I’m eager to know your thoughts and opinions.

My proudest academic moment.
I earned my B.A. in Deaf Studies

I’ve been teaching, developing curriculum, and spreading American Sign Language LOVE-IT (translation: love) for over eight years. My journey with the beautiful and naturally occurring language begins in my fourth grade classroom. The aide in my class was a charismatic, kind-hearted, white-blonde haired woman who taught my class one hundred words in American Sign Language (ASL). She provided us with a list of words and she showed us them one by one. I can still imagine the list- I and YOU were at the top. I don’t even remember writing any notes down. The visual learner in me was beaming with excitement. The aide was spirited and energetic while showing us each word. This was one of the only moments I recall from elementary school that wasn’t challenging or brought demoralizing emotions of work I didn’t understand or could accomplish on my own. For once, I felt able to achieve something. The finale was presenting sentences in front of the class. Being a shy blonde girl, I would normally run at the sight of the spotlight. This was a proud moment for me as a young student. This was different. I felt empowered by my ability to produce each sign correctly. We presented in pairs, to be less intimidating I would assume, and we rocked our sentences. This experience has driven my learning process. School highlighted my weaknesses, where the athletics I played worked towards my strengths. Though school was a hardship, now I realize how my educational experience has shaped the teacher I am today. I see my learning form as an adult far more than when I was a child. In high school, I knew I was a kinesthetic and visual learner- I took those modality tests. As a child, I didn’t have the skills to use these as tools to build on my strengths. Finally, it all “clicked” when I arrived at my first ASL class at my community college. That was my moment when everything seemed effortless and I started using my tools to encourage my strengths.