Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.
As many of you may know, I regularly teach an acrylic painting class at the Starling Musings art gallery and shop, located at 220 W. Washington St., here in Monticello. As a self-taught artist, it has been a pleasure and a challenge to teach beginner artists how to paint landscapes and other subjects on canvas. I have, over the years, been able to teach myself a variety of techniques and tricks, and if I could teach me, I can teach you!
Joking aside, I have been delighted and blown away with the talented novices that have attended my classes and have done such an amazing job tackling such new and challenging techniques. Creating art can be really intimidating, but I have been impressed with how dedicated my students have been, and humbled at the trust they have placed in me, allowing me to lead them along their own journey of artistic discovery!
My most recent class was my most challenging one yet: a cat portrait, where each participant was instructed to draw a cat (freehand, no tracing!) and then paint it with acrylic paints on a canvas. Naturally, I am aware that not everyone is capable of drawing a realistic cat. After all, I've been an artist for most of my life, and am still barely capable of drawing a good cat portrait! As such, I provided my students a failsafe: if they followed my step by step instruction on how to sketch a cat, and still didn't like their drawing enough to paint it, they would be able to choose a pre-drawn cat canvas that I had prepared freehand ahead of time, and paint that. I prepared 10 canvases with cat images, just in case, and to my surprise and delight, only one of my eight students opted to use one of my prepared canvases! The rest chose to paint their own drawings, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the results!
For those who have missed out on previous classes, you can always sign up for a future class! I teach acrylic painting sessions every Friday at 6 p.m. The cost per person is $30 and covers all supplies and instruction. All participants are welcome and encouraged to bring their own beverages and snacks to the class. Sharing is optional and always appreciated! Future classes for the month of August include a Jellyfish class (Aug. 11), a Flower class (Aug. 18), and a Mountain Sunset class (Aug. 25).
If acrylic painting isn't your thing, Starling Musings is always growing, and welcomes artists of a variety of mediums to host a class and teach their craft! While these artists are ever changing, the class list for the month of August has been scheduled as follows:
Saturday mornings, starting at 9 a.m., Lisa Starling will be hosting a Watercolor Workshop. This workshop explores watercolor techniques and instruction. Prompts can be provided, but students are also welcome to use the instruction to work on their own personal projects. Class rates at $15 per adult person if you have your own supplies, and $20 for supplies provided.
Wednesday evenings, from 6 to 9 p.m., the gallery will be hosting an Open Workshop free of charge! Some supplies will be provided, and participants are welcome to bring their own personal projects to work on. This workshop is an excellent opportunity to explore new mediums, work on current projects and network with other, like-minded artists in the area.
Starling Musings is dedicated to providing an open space for creatives to collaborate, share ideas and build a sense of community. Anyone wishing to attend a class, or teach one of their own, are encouraged to reach out to the gallery owner, Gabe Starling, via email at Starlingmusings@gmail.com.
This experience of teaching others how to do artwork has been uniquely rewarding. I marvel at the differences in each student's style, and their approach to the prompts, techniques and supplies that I give them. It is my firm belief that there is a creative mind in everyone. Maybe you are dreadful at drawing, but amazing at sculpting. Maybe you're bad at sculpting but are an incredible musician. Perhaps you don't have a musical bone in your body, but can paint breathtaking images. Everyone has their medium. You just have to find it. And attending a class at Starling Musings might just be the way you discover your biggest talent.