Classroom Story No 2 - Sitting by Jean Wilson - Some background

 After I had been active with the guild for a few years, I was attending another workshop. Arriving early, I set up my workspace - tables of two people - everyone facing the same direction. People would walk by and remark that they did not want to sit by me because my allegedly superior work would make them feel bad. Eventually, Sandy walked over and said, "I'll sit with her. Maybe some of her skill will rub off on me." I have been a huge fan of Sandy ever since. It's not that I was offended by the people who didn't want to sit by me. I felt sorry for them. It was nice to have someone else toss out a perspective that highlighted the absurdity of wanting to hide from people who might have something to share.

As we learned from the Peter Thornton story - rock stars can steal from anyone. Or, as Peter and others say: steal and conceal. Gathering ideas is how you come up with your own ideas.

Here's a tidbit about my penmanship that goes back to my college days. Or perhaps, I should start at the beginning. 

It was a few weeks before my third birthday (1955) when I demanded that my mom teach me how to write. She agreed and she even kept that very first piece of paper - which I treasure. I learned the alphabet and while I was 3 going on 4, my brother was 6 going on 7, in first grade, and learning how to read. Since I had nothing better to do, I learned how to read right along with him. 

I was so excited to learn cursive in the third grade (1959). It was a big deal to get a Shaffer pen with cartridges of ink. I was not happy with my penmanship at all. By the late 50s, many schools had switched from Palmer to Zaner-Bloser. I detested the ZB capitals and I still detest them. They are so ugly. 

Palmer, with the dreaded drills actually gave people a chance at beautiful penmanship. ZB just churned out a whole lotta ugliness. I knew my penmanship was ugly but had no idea that I could do anything about it. 

Cut to college (1969). On the first day, there was a sign-up sheet. By the time I got to the list, I could see a lot of beautiful penmanship. Joanne Olson's was gorgeous. During that first semester, I got to know her and collected some samples of her penmanship so that I could practice changing my style into something very close to hers. I got pretty close but it was still not really pleasing to my eyes.

Cut to 26 years later (1995) when I stumbled across calligraphy classes right in my back yard. (Insert italic story) Eventually, I studied so many different styles that I was able to morph them into my own style which I call Jeanarian. 

Teaching Story No 1 - Sitting next to Barbara Bruene

 I started this blog in 2013. Then in 2019 I added a second post. Here it is, 2022, and I am on the verge of posting all kinds of stories about Art for the Intimidated. They will be random stories with helpful labels. Some of my penpals might find the stories useful. Maybe someday, when I am dead, my kids will discover them and read the first two sentences and find them boring. 

Story number one is about my very first calligraphy workshop. Peter Thornton -a true rockstar in the world of calligraphy- was in town for a guild sponsored workshop. I walked in and sat down at an open chair. The woman next to me was my age 40-ish. Maybe a little older. Many of the people in the class had tons of art supplies. She had just a pad of paper, a notebook, a ruler, and a modest number of pens, pencils, etc.

As we got into the class, I did not pay attention to her work. I might have glanced over but nothing jumped out at me as being spectacular. At lunch, she wandered off and sat with people she obviously knew. I wandered in the direction of people I knew from the guild. One of the people I had lunch with said to me, "Aren't you intimidated sitting next to Barbara Bruene?" I did not know who Barbara was and asked why I would be intimidated by the nice lady. I was informed that Barbara taught calligraphy at Iowa State University. This was back in the day when a few universities still recognized calligraphy as a worthy subject to include in an art or design degree program.

I do not recall my response. Learning that she was an illustrious instructor did not intimidate me. I had already learned that half of calligraphy was learning how to make the letters - but the other half was how you arranged the words on the page -the composition. I was confident that I knew a enough about composition to compensate for whatever I was lacking in actual lettering skill.

It was a two day workshop and on the second day we were working on composition. At one point, I turned my paper and started writing in a different direction. A few minutes later, I saw Barbara turn her paper. Bingo. The master calligrapher was stealing ideas from me. Not that I had invented the concept of turning the paper. But, it was busting out of the constraints of typical calligraphy during a workshop where we were (or rather where we had been) conforming to traditional formats. I'm sure that Barbara had turned her paper - plenty of times - in other situations. 

Later, in the day - after Peter had mentioned something about square layouts providing something less than rectangles - I thought to myself - he may be a rock star - but I disagree with him that there is anything *less than* about a square. So I started doing a bunch of square compositions. Bingo. He stopped at my desk and took one of my pieces, held it up as a good example, added some things to it -- and then the frosting on the cake was that he made a cute remark about how he would be stealing the idea. I did not say anything about what he had previously said - about squares. What he had said wasn't wrong - but, it just didn't cover the exceptions. If I had engaged him in a conversation about squares, I'm sure it would have been very interesting. But, I also knew it would be side-tracking the whole class - which is not polite.

So, where is this going?

Point one - do not be intimidated by people. The more proficient someone is at a skill, the more gracious they are to beginners. There might be arrogant exceptions - but nobody takes them seriously. They are buffoons.

Point two - recognize that whatever someone says has a flip side that may contain some truth, too. It's a tricky concept. Even the concept of looking at both sides - can be tricky. Sometimes you end up in wishy-washy land - if you are forever stuck on flipping the perspective. At a certain point - you do have to commit. 

Peter could have covered squares as legitimate equals to rectangles in composition. But, most people do rectangular compositions. There are tons of pre-made picture frames that are rectangles. It's probably better in a workshop situation to keep the focus on rectangles. I still remember many of the tips from that class. The tips for rectangles do not always apply to squares. Squares have their own set of tips.

Link to Barbara Bruene bio

Design Tips - Introduction

The photo has nothing to do with the topic. It would take a lot of organization to put perfect photos with the topics. Maybe someday.

It has taken 6 years to come up with the second post on my Art for the Intimidated blog. Art for the Intimidated was a class I designed and you may read all about it on the tab labeled History. (It is not written, yet. I'll work on it.)

I get many requests for Design Tips. While it is easy to rattle off lots of tips, I read an article this morning that explains why *tips* are only half helpful.

You may read the full article here:
https://painterskeys.com/the-mother-of-all-tips/

Robert Genn gave me permission to reprint and link to his material. He has passed on and his daughter reruns articles that he wrote over the years. If you have time, go to the archive and read all of them.

The point he made that resonated with me is this:

 ...many would-be artists confuse interest with aptitude. 
<snip>
Most of us who would make art need a bit of talent, a dose of character, and good work habits

IMHO taking classes or workshops is part of the work that is necessary. It takes work. That is why they call it artwork. Most of the work that looks effortless actually took a lot of work.

I am happy to share tips, but I also know that to really understand and apply design principles, you need to *work.* That is the value of taking formal classes. You get assignments and you struggle and then what you learn becomes second nature. Like learning to ride a bike or drive a car or fly a jet airplane. Three different levels of difficulty. It is obvious that the learning curve on each is different.

It is the same with art. You can learn a few tips to make your work look better. Or you can study harder and get to my level. Or you can immerse yourself in the topic and become a rock star designer. I'm no rock star. But, I do have some skill that pleases my eye from time to time.

People who are at the bicycle level are welcome to read my tips. There are endless ways to find other tips as well as full blown education. Enjoy the journey.

new blog

clearly, not intimidated

testing the template