Yesterday was the fabric painting class at the shop. It was fun and entertaining at the same time. There were five students of all different levels of art experience. One thing I can say about this group of ladies is that they were good listeners and open to learning new things. 
Teaching something from scratch can be a challenge because it is a balance between helping them get past their fears of messing up and actually appling the paint to fabric. But the part I most love is when the student starts to see a picture on the fabric. Then it is a matter of each step defining that final art piece. How I teach this waterclor painting on fabric class has changed through the years. I learn from every student and then I streamline how I present it. My goal is to help them learn how to do the process but also to go home and want to make something out of it. The other thing is that teaching a smaller group is alot more fun because it gives me time to help each student along in the process.
When I first started many years ago my classes had 10 to 15 students and the classes were 5 hours long. This is what is required in big shops. But really in my opinion a 2 or 3 hour class can be just as effective and then do a followup session to define what direction they want to go in. This basic fabric painting class is set up to teach how to apply paint and make it permanet as you build your confidence in this art medium. To learn the full range of what can be painted on fabric you need to have time in other sessions to work on each technique.
So these ladies decided to come back once a month to learn other techniques. I jokingly told my husband I might call them the “Painted ladies. So we are meeting on November 5th and they already have an idea of what they want to paint in the future. Then I can create each session to fit what they want. It is so exciting to help someone else create. As you can see in the pictures they had a great time. Here is a picture of their finished blocks and already you can see what kind of painter they are going to be. One of the students art looked like oriental brush work and another painted more like a pastel artist. Well need to run my husband is taking to lunch and then a movie in Twin Falls……….
