Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of visiting the Hualapai Mountains outside Kingman, AZ, with my sister.
The Hualapais are less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, but a vastly different landscape. So, I took plenty of reference photos and was eager to get home to start painting. On the easel in my studio, these are the first of my Hualapais paintings. What do you think of them?
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One of the great pleasures of my art journey has been meeting so many gifted artists along the way, and becoming friends with many of them.
At the local art gallery, I’ve been blessed to have found so many talented artists who are not only incredibly skilled but also extremely supportive of one another. Even though I’m only an emerging artist, they’ve taken me under their wing and encouraged me to paint, exhibit and sell my artwork. The gallery even opened its classroom to me so I can teach! During the coronavirus pandemic, I found solace via the internet. There I discovered and “met” wonderful instructors online. Through their websites and/or Zoom classes, I received companionship as well as instruction. One of my very best arty friends was a student, along with me, in the Learn To Paint Academy (LTPA). Founded and run by Rod Moore, a contemporary impressionist painter based in Australia, the LTPA provides instruction to a worldwide audience of emerging artists. Rod not only teaches, but during COVID, he held weekly Q&A’s so his students FROM AROUND THE WORLD could get online and ask their questions via a live chat. It was during these chats that I heard about Sujata from Henderson, NV. Rod would call her “Sujata from Nevada.” Well, since I live practically around the corner from Henderson, I reached out to Sujata and invited her out for coffee. The first time we met (in the middle of the pandemic) we were wearing masks! We became friends and have met up for breakfast just about every month since then. Last Friday, Sujata and I met up with Linda, another one of Rod’s students, who happened to be visiting from Phoenix. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Ventano in Henderson, NV (just outside Las Vegas). Linda’s daughter, Christy, snapped this photo of the three of us. Although we’d never met in person, thanks to all the online chats and Facebook postings over the years, we were already good friends. Thank you, Rod Moore, for making great connections! It was another one of those weeks when I didn’t get much painting done.
Instead, I took a trip with my sister to the Hualapai Mountains of northern Arizona. The drive up the mountain range was amazing. We even hiked some of the trails to get some close-ups of the magnificent nature. In retrospect, I wish I’d taken some paints and my portable easel to paint en plein air some of the beautiful scenery. It would have been a challenge for me because I’ve never actually painted outdoors before. But, alas, I did not plan ahead. Nor did I anticipate the breathtaking views I’d be encountering. Nonetheless, I was able to capture some of the beautiful landscapes with my camera. Here is a sample of the photographs I took. As you’ll see, we even got some of the wildlife to pose for us! I hope to use some of these as reference photos for future paintings. They won’t be en plein air, of course, but at least I can reminisce and paint from my studio. As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, it’s time for me to get back to teaching. The subject is art. To be specific, I want to teach acrylic painting to absolute beginners.
I even scheduled my first class for Tuesday, June 13, at City Lights Art Gallery in Henderson, NV. Initially, I was encouraged when there seemed to be a lot of interest from art enthusiasts who attended the Henderson Art Festival on Mother’s Day. All the flyers I had at the gallery and in my booth were taken, and just about everyone who took a flier said they’d contact me. As of today, only one person has signed up for the class. It appears there’s a lot more to teaching than standing up in front of a classroom. You also have to FILL the classroom with students! So, I find myself just a week before my scheduled lesson scrambling to promote my class. In the “old” days, I might have put an ad in the local newspaper. Or posted flyers at the library or on a community board at the grocery store. But “these” days, it’s all online. Even the courses are taught online. There’s a lot of competition for eyeballs on social media. I’ve been posting mainly on Facebook, on my personal page, on my business page and on a number of local Facebook Groups. But it’s hard to grab attention. I understand that. And so, dear friend, if you’re reading this and you know anyone living in the Las Vegas area who would like to learn to paint, please pass my name on to them with a link to my website at www.territhompsonart.com/teaching Promote me by spreading the word! And thank you very much! |
AuthorTerri Thompson is a journalist-turned-visual artist, who is on an "art journey" and exploring how to tell her stories through her watercolor and acrylic paintings and photographs. Categories |