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.