Teaching - what it means to me

This started out as a quick post to say I have a couple of places in the weekly classes, then it got longer and longer... so make a cup of coffee and relax...

Although I trained as an art teacher, over the years there were relatively short periods spent teaching art. After leaving Art school, I took whatever work was available. I worked in a Reference Library, and then landed my first teaching position coupled with working in the school's library. When I tell you that I was teaching Maths to Grade 7 you'll realise that I was desperate for work. Fortunately the Maths teacher returned from long leave and the school wisely moved me to teaching English to newly arrived immigrants. Subsequent teaching - art to years 8 and 9, at another school, was a lot more in line with my training.

                         

The Ice cream Cone #WAXnext - watercolour and graphite - reference from Sktchy

Now many years later, I'm teaching teaching art full time. I'm running a Studio from home. I love every minute of every day.

My Teaching Model

When deciding on a teaching model for the Studio, I worked on the premise that adults would be best served if they are able to retain their individual identity. I had no wish to teach prescriptively - in other words there would be no handout of the same reference to each person. There would be no " now take out the cerulean blue and this is how we are going to paint the sky..."

Since the Studio is small there is place to accommodate  6 artists. Each artist is able to work in their medium of choice, whether it be watercolour, oils or acrylics. Alternatively they might decide to draw for a term, exploring a range of mediums from graphite to charcoal to playing with ink. Each artist decides on the theme for their own work and works at their own pace. (Admittedly I do tend to say: "Time to wrap this one up and start something new - you can't stroke this one for another three hours")

When there is a workshop the teaching is much more structured. Then new techniques and mediums are investigated in a formal class with step by step instructions.

Moving out of your comfort zone

Part of my way of teaching involves stretching the artists. I do believe that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Regularly, I encourage trying new methods of working as well as new materials. This can be confronting to those who like the comfort of always working in the same way.

I believe that developing critical skills; learning to assess your own work;  looking at the work of fellow students with a discerning eye; learning how to give constructive criticism is invaluable. I believe that artists need to learn how to change and develop an artwork effectively rather than have a knee-jerk "my work is rubbish" type of criticism. 

When you're a beginner or have returned to art after a long break you can have many insecurities. My aim is to provide a venue where skills can be learned or rediscovered. The Studio has a closed Facebook Group where work completed or in process can be posted. Carol's Studio Group is a sympathetic environment where the artists can post work without exposing oneself to criticism from the world at large.

Making friends

When I moved to Australia the list of people I knew was very short. In addition to my family I knew only a couple of their friends. In establishing the Studio, not only do I have the means to support myself but I now also have a network of friends. The Studio participants too have made lasting friendships and developed a sense of community. The famous coffee break (with coffee from nearby Deja Bru) is an integral part of the Studio experience. And you can still get free tea if you want it...

And the point of this post...

Class Vacancies for Term 3 13th July to 18th September 2016
EDIT 30-06-2016 Wednesday Evenings  6.00 pm to 9.00 pm - places still available
Thursday Mornings      9.00 am to 12.00 pm - Please note that this place has been filled

Inspiration from Cedar Pocket

I have been busy in my studio painting for a number of exhibitions coming up soon. These entry dates never fail to take me by surprise when the beginning of the year rolls around. 

Every year I make promises to myself to start early. In fact I resolve to plan during the year for these shows. This never happens because there's always something else to work on especially when there are commissions to be painted. Oh well - it's good to be busy.

This large work was inspired by a trip up to Cedar Pocket last year. I took loads of photos and this painting is a combination of a few. I love to re-invent reality, taking a bit from this one and another bit from that. This way I have the freedom to change the colours, to edit and alter rather than slavishly work from only one reference. 

Here's a sneak peek of the work in progress. The painting measures 1200mm x 915mm.

You'll have to wait a bit for the finished painting...

WIP Detail - Cedar Pocket Inspiration - oil on linen ©  2015 Carol Lee Beckx

One Hundred Posts

It's taken me a while to get there but this post marks the 100th since I started this blog. 

                           Work in Progress Detail: Nymphea - oil on canvas - Carol Lee Beckx ©2012 

In the intervening time I have:

• Sold and packed up a house 
• Sold my share of a family business
• Bade farewell to family and friends
• Moved continents - South Africa to Australia
• Discovered many inspiring blogs and made virtual friends worldwide
• Moved into my new home
• Set up my studio
• Started art classes
• Built and planted a garden (with help from my kind son-in-law)
• Learnt to swop some words i.e. "jumper" instead of "jersey" and  some new expressions  "no worries, mate"
• Painted a number of paintings 
• Won a few prizes 
• Set up an Etsy site and made a sale
• Made so many new friends - and this is the part that really makes me feel at home. 

Thank you, Australia for the warm welcome.


The image is a work in progress. I started this painting shortly before I received the Paris commission. 

It's been great fun to splash out in full colour. 

The Deja Bru Project

The commission was to create a Paris street scene for a new coffee shop Deja Bru at my local shopping centre. The brief was to include the Eiffel Tower, the buildings of Paris and street cafes painted in black and white. 

To prepare for the work I made a half size drawing of the scene. Half size made sense because the complete work would consist of 3 canvases each measuring 48" x 48". It was important make decisions about the composition where I could see the complete layout.

I obtained large sheets of good quality cartridge paper from Arthouse Northside, strong enough to withstand countless erasures during the drawing process. Two and a half sheets were joined and fixed to the studio wall with tape. Fortunately I had one wall that was long enough to do this!

I turned to the Internet to collect the necessary reference. Some images were a breeze -there are numerous wonderful images of the Eiffel Tower. Google Earth helped with the buildings. First I surfed the Net  for Paris cafes to get the addresses. Once I was there it was down to street view and I was in Paris. The view (complete with people) was then saved as a jpeg.

Sometimes I would want to see the building from further back so I'd move the Google man to a different place in the street only to find that the photo included a bus moving along in front of the building! 

Deja Bru left panel

Deja Bru centre panel

Deja Bru right panel

Once the drawing was approved, and after priming the canvases with good quality gesso, I squared up the canvases. The draft drawing was enlarged by doubling each element. 

Although the brief was for black and white, the painting needed to have tones of grey to add depth and to give more scope to do justice to the architectural details. Since the work was so large I used acrylics because they are fast drying, making it easy to move the canvases off the easels as I alternated between the three sections. The three panels were worked on at the same time keeping each at the same rate of progress to ensure continuity.


As I teach in my studio, the canvases needed to be moved to safety during the classes. It was useful not to have to contend with slow drying oils. Working exclusively in acrylics in tones of grey, black and white was a good exercise in tonal contrast - good lighting was essential. I was also swiftly reminded that acrylic paint dries darker - hmmm. I soon learnt to mix up larger quantities and save these in an air-tight container. In this way, the tones remained more constant and would not dry out too quickly. 

As the work progressed, the client suggested including the name of the cafe, so Deja Bru was transplanted to a street in Paris - with a dash of red. 

Final touches included more black and white in looser brush strokes - and it's done.

The paintings were installed last night and I must admit I am pleased. I'll post a photograph soon.