Updates from Terri on Her Art Journey
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Here I am back on my deck overlooking the forest atop Burr Mountain in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Lucky for me, my son and his girlfriend stopped by for a visit. I hope to see lots of them over the next four months, either here or in Brooklyn, where they live. New York City is just a two-hour drive from where I’ll be staying.
However, my plan is to spend most of the rest of this summer and early fall painting. In fact, for the month of August, I’m creating a special “Paint New England” Event, during which I’ll be painting a scene-a-day of the bucolic landscape that surrounds me here. This past week was a transitional period, shutting down my Las Vegas studio, traveling and readapting to my tiny loft studio. Perhaps the biggest adjustment is the climate. It’s so humid here! At least my acrylic paints won’t dry as fast as they do in the heat of Las Vegas!!
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Now that we’re well into the second half of 2022 (can you believe that?!), it’s time to review the goals I set for myself for the spring quarter and set some new ones for the next three months.
Among my accomplished goals, I added 30 pieces of artwork to my store on Fine Art America (www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/7-terri-thompson) , and I updated my website (added a “Teaching” page and created a QCR code for my website). I believe my greatest achievement this spring was my involvement with the local art community. I’ve been blessed to make so many “arty” friends this year. Just last week, I met up with several of them for lunch. Here I am pictured with Sujata, Isabelle, Delia, Carolyn, Pat, Stephanie, Karla, Eric and Chris. We had a ball (as you can see from our smiling faces), and I couldn’t ask for a more supportive group of talented, artistic friends. In addition to lunch and breakfast meetings with my arty friends, I volunteered one day at the Las Vegas Artists Guild, exhibited at the Henderson Art Festival on Mother’s Day, and entered a juried photo competition at City Lights Art Gallery (three of my goals for the second quarter). Alas, none of my photographs received an award, but I was pleasantly surprised that someone bought one of my photos (titled “Grrr!”) for $75! I also sold one commissioned painting; my goal had been to sell three, so I fell short there. However, I sold several of my floral art acrylics during the Mother’s Day event. So, after accounting for my expenses, I had a modest profit of $146 for the second quarter; not exactly a resounding business success! A lesson I’ve learned this year is that I find more joy in TEACHING people how to paint than SELLING art. To that end, one of my goals was to complete the requirements for my certification as an instructor of the Moore Method of Painting, which I did in April. As an MCI, I taught my first painting class for absolute beginners earlier this month at City Lights Art Gallery (with the help of my good friend, Sujata). That just happens to be one of my goals for the third quarter, so I’m off to a good start for the next three months. As for the rest of my goals, I’m going to focus less on quantity and more on quality of my work for the rest of this year. In August, I plan to complete Louise Fletcher’s ten-week course (“Find Your Joy”) and in so doing, uncover my unique artistic style and voice. That, of course, is not easy to quantify; you can’t exactly give a number to “authenticity.” But, God willing, I hope I’ll be able to learn and appreciate what gives me joy in my artwork and share that with you in the near future. Whether anyone likes what I paint doesn’t really matter to me at this point. Anyway, it’s going to be a busy few months. My husband and I will be heading off to Connecticut next week, and I’ll be putting my Manhattan apartment up for sale. I need to pack up my Vegas studio office and set up my sweet little New England loft studio. Although I’m sad to be leaving my Vegas art buddies, when I return this fall, I hope I’ll be a better, more confident painter and teacher. Last Wednesday (July 6), I taught my first painting class at City Lights Art Gallery in Henderson, NV, just outside Las Vegas. It was a workshop for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS and I was blessed to have four enthusiastic students and the assistance of my good friend Sujata, who photographed us at work.
We painted in acrylics on 11” x 14” stretched canvases. As a certified instructor of the Moore Method of Painting, I taught one of Rod Moore’s projects, a lovely seascape called “Cape Otway Lighthouse.” My wonderful students (Anna, Eric, Lenny and Lisa) left the classroom with their finished paintings and from their smiling faces, I believe they were quite pleased with their results. My goal was to inspire them and give them confidence that anyone can learn how to paint. I hope they learned something and will come back for a future class when I get back to Las Vegas in the fall. Actually, I learned something myself: I need more than three hours to teach a class! Teaching at the gallery was one of my goals for the second half of the year. Next week, I’ll review the goals I set for myself for the second quarter of 2022 and assess how I did. And I’ll share my goals for the next three months. In the meantime, I’m on week five of my ten-week course with Louise Fletcher and really enjoying learning some new skills. Here’s some advice for you: NEVER STOP LEARNING! It’s the Fourth of July and I hope you’re enjoying the holiday with friends or family (or both!). I’m taking the day off and will be back next week with news about my plans for the next three months. Yep, it’s the beginning of the third quarter of 2022 and time to reset my goals.
So, see you next week! |
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 |