This was my first free week after finishing up teaching a 5 week course. I will always remember where I was the night Barack Obama was elected president: I was teaching that Tuesday night with several stalwart students. We have mail-in ballots in Oregon, so no lines or rush to vote. My husband promised to text me when Barack hit the 270 mark, and my students were dying to hear when my phone kept buzzing and buzzing. So, shortly after 7pm we took a little break, i looked at my phone and, well we nearly danced a jig. It was hard to focus back to painting. But paint we did! The theme of the term was doing a series, and I'll be repeating the class, with opportunities for advanced students in Winter term. I was so impressed with these students, some beginners, some younger, some older, some returning to painting after several years of sabbatical. With their permission I took photos of their work with a promise to post at least one of each on my blog. Everyone had such wonderful, individual style. I humbly present this art, applaud the talents, and encourage them to keep "making art". Shown first at the beginning of this blog, is one of my class demos that I finished up. Some students were quite prolific, with series in birds, trees, abstract landscapes, and nonrepresentative paintings. it was a great exploration, with lots of talent. I forgot to put labels on each photo when I uploaded, so I credit Jessica for her birds and trees; Geoff for his landscape and starry night; Liz for her swirling purple creation, and so much more of hers I could have put here; Randy's balanced shapes with his wonderful colors; Maribeth's textured zenlike beauty; and LouAnn's passionate sunsets. May you all keep making art.
