She is so cute, your little fox lady. And I can see you're enjoying your new Albrecht Dürers 😀 Great job! And there I was, thinking I was crazy for putting all those little texture doodads over my watercolors. So glad I'm not alone in this. 🤣
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Thanks so much! I think we can agree that doodads on watercolor can be considered the cherry on the top. It makes it unique as leaving it just plain is something everybody can do lol. So you are not alone, actually you are unique and so am I. I like to try new stuff outside the comfort zone, it doesn't have to follow the textbook as long as I feel alright doing it.
Mary, I'm in my sixties now and painting only since 2019, a total of only about 120 pictures. EVERYTHING is still out of my comfort zone 🤣
I know you will ask, so I save you the typing. Why so late in life? Because I had a real asshole of an art teacher as a child who told me I would never amount to anything in art. And it stuck!
What a great age to start stuff! The mind is ripe, the self confidence is way better! I think that we grow so much and that aging should be seen as a treasure as we all know how our mind worked in our teens lol.
Mean stuff teachers said almost always stick because we are so young and we have no awareness of our potential and own value. So we tend to believe what others say. I also had some teachers like these. I congratulate you for overcoming that. Your story reminds me of Steve Harvey. the TV guy. He had a serious stuttering problem and one of his teachers laughed and mocked him for wanting to become a TV anchor. Now that he is a millionaire and successful he confessed that he sends a TV every year to that particular teacher to allow her to watch him on TV every time. Hahaha imagine the suffering of that teacher's ego. She deserved it for mocking a child's dream. Who knows where that teacher is now, but that mocked child is now a millionaire. So from that story and yours I learn that we should always follow our dreams no matter what the naysayers say.
That was a great story about that TV guy. For me it wasn't about overcoming, it was much more mundane than that. My wife @caro-art started with her painting, and all of a sudden we had supplies galore in the house. Got me curious, and it looked so relaxing. She encouraged me, so I tried, and it was fun. Developed into a new hobby from there because it relaxed me, too.
The teacher thing occurred to me much later. During my years in the U.S. there were big box art supply stores all over the place, Michaels, Pearl's, etc.. which I used to go to for my model railroading hobby. I was always quite intrigued by all the colors and materials, but I shied away from investing a few bucks, because it would be a waste of money. Hey, I "knew" I was no good at it.
German schools in my childhood were pretty stern and strict. At least the discipline got me a headstart in STEM and languages. (I'm an engineer.) That I'm also convinced of and I'm grateful for it.
Looking at today's German kids, they have it too easy, and we're turning out mostly snowflakes w/o well rounded basic skills. College students who cant spell worth a sh. and are overwhelmed by the simplest arithmetic. That's statistically proven and the country is falling behind for it. No better artists either, 'cause they mostly skip the classic craft of light, shadow, perspective, ... and head straight for the experimental paint splashing.
I have no idea how to solve this dilemma and how to better teach the teachers.
Germans are known for their very strict to the rules policy. They have a good reputation for following rules. With the VW scandal though we can agree that every nation has mistakes, no one is perfect. I checked your wife's profile, she is super talented, congrats!
Who should teach the teachers? Other teachers....Who should teach them? Dilemma. I guess life will evolve in the natural way and change happens when people are ready for it