THE SKOOG FARM WORKSHOP EXHIBITION

Before I take you to the opening, I want to tell you a little bit about this "Workshop." It started in March of 2002 and has been meeting weekly since then. The majority of my students arrived with little or no experience, but all were interested in getting into some "art." I always start them with some basics, like contour line drawing and move on through some exercises found in "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" (if you are sure you have no talent, find this book and see what happens). Once I get them to realize they CAN draw, they become more confident and there is no holding them back. Over the years I have taught over 50 students (3 were children and the rest were adults)...a handful have been with me for over 7 years. I think Tina has attended more classes than anyone. Currently, all of my students are retired and come from all walks of life...teachers, librarians, accountants...at one time I had a couple of Doctors. At any rate, they always seem to form a bond and enjoy being together as much as they like doing art.

And we don't just do art. One or two times a year I host a pot luck dinner at the farm when spouses are invited. Great food and interesting conversation.

This was our dinner a couple of months ago.

There were over 20 people and we had to use two rooms.

I always invite current and past students so we can catch up.

As you will see, they are also invited to participate in shows.

I am so fortunate to be associated with people like this. They are bright, talented and have given me my (most) favorite teaching situation. A real dream job.

We certainly know how to have conversations about everything from world affairs to book and movie reviews.

I used to present a project and everyone would practice techniques and work toward the end product.

Don't do that anymore...

They all have different interests and work in different mediums.

That's ok with me. They don't get graded and I am not interested in seeing how high I can make them jump.

Everything they do is for pure pleasure and they sure have learned a lot along the way.

So what is my role? To serve them tea....to act as a catalyst....to help them see...to assist them with techniques as needed....and what they like the most! For me to say that they are finished.

On any given Tuesday, I have between 6 and 10 students. Perfect.

Now, on to the opening. Look who arrived first! My good friend Topper! And he left his camera in the car so we could not take pictures of each other at the same time.

The majority of the spectators arrived in the first hour. At one time both rooms were full.

Over the course of the evening people drove out from Brockport...and later on the local artists stopped in.

I created a flower arrangement from things I found in the yard.

We had sweets....

We had veggies...grapes, apples, cheese, crackers, punch, coffee, candy and more.

It's a good thing! That was dinner.

These four were there to support Deb Talley, who is out visiting family in Colorado.

Two of our artists...Brenda and Connie.

Alicia (a fabulous jeweler) and Topper.

This family was the first to purchase a painting...Brenda's "Chicken Nugget".

I met Courtney and Gail, who were speaking to Tina (Gail's sister-in-law).

Love the plant...what can I say?

There was a nice mix of people we knew....

and people we were happy to meet.

All in all, a great evening. Kim did an outstanding job hanging the show and was a terrific hostess. The place looked great! Thank you...everyone who participated....