How Great Thou Art!
In an attempt to do something special with Connor while Ryan is in Williamsburg this week, I registered the two of us for a three-day art workshop led by Barry Stebbing, founder of How Great Thou Art! So, for the past three mornings: sketchbooks, markers, and colored pencils in hand, Connor and I headed off to art class. And what fun we had!
Following along in class.
Mr. Stebbing is an entertaining, fast-paced teacher… a bit too fast paced for my little artist at times… but Connor hung in there, and all in all, we both really enjoyed the class. We learned about color theory, mixing paints, blending colored pencils, drawing, shading, contrast, and perspective – all in 7 hours of instruction!
Trying his hand at blending color and using different brush techniques..
After the first day, Connor proudly proclaimed, “I am going to be like our teacher when I grow up. I am going to teach kids art!” This from a little guy whose art work to date has been a bit, um, sparse… and rushed… and messy… and, well… forced.
Homework, drawn willingly!
From the first day of class, Mr. Stebbing insisted that we are all artists; that there was no one in the room who “can not do art.”
“The Lord is an artist, and we are made in His image, so we are all artists!”
he stated emphatically.
I loved that! How often have I said, “Oh, I’m no artist” or “I can’t draw” as an excuse for not trying? How often have I said, “I can’t” to something new, something difficult, something that would require practice (and I’m not just talking about art here)? The Lord God gave each of us a mind, a body, and a unique set of gifts or talents. We owe it to Him to use our gifts, to develop our talents. We owe it to ourselves to understand and accept that talents are not developed without practice and persistence. Art takes practice. Music takes practice. Writing takes practice. Athletics take practice. Even the masters weren’t masters the first time they painted or drew. Did you know Rembrandt painted over 90 self-portraits?! Practice makes perfect!
Just a few of our artistic efforts from our How Great Thou Art class.
And so, before leaving the workshop today, I purchased Mr. Stebbing’s introductory art curriculum for 6-10 year olds: I Can Do All Things. Over the next few weeks, the boys (and I) will begin using this curriculum a little at a time in an effort to develop our skill and our talents in recording the beauty of the world around us in art. I can’t wait to prove that we all CAN do art… and just about anything else we put our minds, our time, and our efforts toward!