I am not a teacher and certainly never aspired to be one. I did however have incredible teachers. One of the best teachers I have ever had was my art teacher. She had a profound effect on my love of art, as well as teaching me to think critically, to observe, and to appreciate all kinds of art.

Two things stand out for me from my art classes with Miss Innes. The first (and one I will never, ever forget) was a painting class where we had to paint what we saw outside the window, For some reason this particular lesson didn’t inspire me hugely, and I think my attempt at observation made that quite obvious. Never one to mince her words, she asked me what I thought I was painting. I answered the tree. She gave my tree a scathing look, and asked me when had I ever seen a tree with brown bark!? I looked at the beautiful oaks outside the art room window, and then I looked at my pitiful attempt to paint them. She was right, there were textures, there were shades of grey, purples and paynes grey to name a few, but there certainly wasn’t any brown. Suddenly the lesson became interesting as I explored the bark of the old oak with my eyes and tried to do the beautiful old tree justice.

The 2nd epiphany happened while I was sitting in Miss Innes’s art class in my first year of high school (1980). Art for that grade was compulsory. I must have been about 13 at the time. There must have been about 25 to 30 of us in the class, of which maybe 5 were genuinely interested in being there. I hated sharing an art class with these kids who did not share my fascination for the subject. All I ever wanted to do was learn about art and draw and paint. Those classes put me off teaching for life. It had nothing at all to do with the teacher, but she sure had her hands full with the lot of us. I decided then and there I did not want to be an art teacher (or any other kind of teacher for that matter). I didn’t think I would be able to be a good teacher and inspire students who were not interested. To this day I have an incredible admiration for my art teacher and all the other teachers who persevered against what I considered to be insurmountable odds.

Since moving back home to St Lucia I have been approached to teach art. I never expected to be in a position where I would teach anything. I now find myself with a group of wonderful INTERESTED adult ladies and young lady who I teach. I am not sure they would all appreciate me posting photos of them with their work on my blog, so I decided it was safest not to. Rather I will just post an examples of some their amazing work from one of their art sessions. This particular morning my monthly group class painted a blue agapanthus with a palette knife. Prior to this none of them had any experience with paint, let alone a palette knife!

I also had an adult student who has sadly left the area who used to come for private lessons. She had painted before and had a good feel for colour and an eye for detail. We had such fun together, and she really pushed me way out of my comfort zone when she wanted to paint her dog in one of our lessons. I told her it would be a first for me too. I have been approached to paint pet portraits and I have avoided it as I didn’t know where to begin! Now I know and whats more…. I had fun, much to my surprise!

My other wayward student who I am trying hard to persuade to return to share her talent with me, but she remains elusive! I live in hope… If you read this, you know who you are!!!!

So much talent out there…. Liska shares my love of painting flowers and is also one talented lady! We spend hours together in the evenings with a bottle of wine and our brushes in my art studio.

I also have one young just turned 8 year old student who is obsessed with her art. She is a pleasure, and fun to teach, and very talented. Each lesson is different. Some days she’s full of energy, and other days a long day at school took the bounce out of her. I judge what she is able to deal with and adjust the lesson accordingly. Sometimes she needs help, other times not. Slowly we are working our way through a whole repertoire of subject matter. She loves painting animals, but I also want to challenge her comfort zone and encourage her to try other subject matter, within reason of course! I have drawn the line at panda bears, but lets see how long I can hold out on that one.

I have recently challenged her to paint a self portrait and another portrait of her one grandmother. Not only is she a bright, engaging, and a fun to teach young lady, I have fun teaching her. I think that surprised me the most. I find myself learning through teaching her. Teaching is not a one sided exchange, and I suspect I am learning more than my students are about art and myself.

A have to admit I never thought I would have so much fun teaching – so rewarding! A lesson learned, and one I look forward to continue learning from…