Wonderful news this week. Sally, one of the esteemed members of our Saturday morning drawing class particpated in a group show this weekend. She blew up some small watercolors of eccentric teapots and made giclee prints that were full of great energy. She has a light, playful and energetic style and it was great to see how beautifully a small piece can be enlarged with digital technology. There’s a whole new world of possibility now for making art affordable and available to all.

I asked the class to bring in something they wanted to draw—a photograph or object. This meant we were all working on different things. I wanted everyone to begin to think about what imagery speaks to them most directly, whether its people or plants, landscape or pattern, objects or abstraction even.

For me, it turned out to be a frustrating exercise. I discover, again, that I work best from my mind. Perhaps it was frustrating for others too but that’s part of art—we have to explore and get out of our comfort zones to find ourselves.

But other good news—Maureen was back from Paris. And then, with the class nearly over, Connie arrived from a month away in Columbia. So great to have almost the whole class together again. It’s the people that make it. What I love about this class is that a group of ‘mature’ women are gathering together in both seriousness and fun to march forward as artists. They’re big spirits, up for the challenge, willing to go out on limbs, even willing to drop off a limb from time to time! It’s the supportive energy of the whole that is making our progress so amazing.

And Connie brought back a beautiful series of small paintings she did while away, work that is full of new directions for her. For me, the goal of the class is that each artist sees and gets a chance to develop their own true gift and direction. That’s why we play around with so many things—that direction is going to be different for each of us and will also change for each of us over time.

And, whatever obstacles we encounter—of difficulty, of frustration—are overcome by that greatest of all arts—laughter. I’m giving thanks!