What are you meant to do?

When I was first asked to teach art classes, I cringed.  I can honestly say that very little that I have put my hands on ends up succeeding.  I feel like I have the reverse Midas touch.  I have the poop touch.  (My kids would have laughed hysterically at that.).  I have absolutely no art training except for a painting class when I was 10.  And a high school art class which was taught by an instructor who was later arrested for selling drugs to students.  Oh, dear.

But.....I started teaching my self-taught technique to folks about 2 years ago.  And I have to admit that if I go too long without teaching, I get super antsy.  My classes are more than art instruction to me.....they are fellowship, companionship and therapy.

  Not me giving the therapy.....my students giving it TO ME.  And I need it.  And I love it.  And I love them.  My sweet students who laugh at my inconsistencies and lack of training and still come back for more.  I love them.

And for some reason, they still tell me they couldn't have come up with the ideas on their own.  Or couldn't have completed their art without my instruction.  Sometimes I think they are being sweet...and lying!  Maybe they enjoy the companionship and laughter and conversation and everything else....as much as I do.

No, that is not a wig.

Life is so much more than making money or making a name for yourself.  It's about relationships.  It's about people.  It's about allowing God to create in you the person you were meant to be all along.

I loved this mermaid class.  The 8 of us discussed how big mermaid boobs should be for hours!

And if ever I think I am a good teacher or a good person on any merits of my own......then may God strike me with a bolt of lightening.  Because there is nothing in me that has anything to do with me at all.

Sweet girls from my Trash to Treasure class.  They painted for almost an hour after class was over!

Everything I am, everything I ever hope to be, anything I can do or can't do....any influence I have ever had or will have......any self-teaching I do.....is a gift.  A beautiful gift I have been given and gently persuaded to pass on.

I'm the dork with the apron on.  Probably telling silly stories of growing up in the Coal Mines of Kentucky.  You know....walking to school for 3 miles in the snow, uphill both ways.

What is it you wish you could do but don't believe it's within you?  I'm living proof you can do it.  But don't count on your own strength.  Thank goodness!  There's someone else on your side.  Someone stronger who is telling you.....we can do it!

You CAN do it.  You can.