Art Painting: First Attempt at Acrylic Painting

The new Michaels store that is opening nearby soon has been so kind as to hire me to be a teacher...actually a knitting and crocheting teacher.  Maybe a painting and drawing teacher, too.  As it happens, so far I have only done a little watercolor painting and barely dabbled in drawing, so a lot of work and learning has to happen.

An hour-and-a-half's drive away from home is another Michaels store.  They had a free acrylic painting class offered at a time I could do it.  As luck would have it, that day was a bright sunny day and the roads were clear and dry...not something that often happens in the middle of winter here.  I signed up for the class, dashed out immediately at the end of a wellness class, and tore down the road to the class, stopping at a convenience store for a sandwich since I realized I could not eat the salad I had brought from home while driving.  Duh....

Arriving late  by five minutes, I had to ask where the class room was located.  Found it and discovered the class had six students all set up with paints, easels, brushes, and palettes.  The teacher was already into her spiel.  Yikes!  She loaned me two brushes, gave me a palette and easel, but told me to go buy the canvas 5-pack. Quickly I did that but by the time I got back to the room all the background/sky had been painted.  She was a nice girl but she did not come tell me what I needed to do,  so I just tried to catch up by looking at her painting over the shoulder of the nice lady sitting next to me. 

Acrylic painting is a totally new medium for me.  I scurried to catch up but did not grasp that acrylics use a VERY little bit of water SOMETIMES....There is so much to learn that I will need to take some more classes, at least on YouTube.  That can certainly wait until the new store opens and we see what is what.

Well, I had fun anyway.

This is the picture I painted:

Some things I learned about teaching a class to a group of disparate individuals:

1.  Show what the end result could be
2.  Describe the steps that will need to be taken to reach that result at the beginning of the class, go over again if there are late-comers
3. Inquire about the experience class members have had prior to class
4.  Go over each step carefully, reminding them of the other steps that will follow
5.  Explain the various steps in understandable language
6.  Acknowledge the efforts of each class member, encouraging them to show off their work to other class members