(Maple leaf study by Karla Beatty)
Our first class was held today in the quirky round classroom
at El Charco. There were fourteen eager and appreciative students. A full
house! It is a strong mix of English and Spanish language, and I'm so sorry to
say that students must put up with the way I butcher the Spanish language. But
we approach it all with humor and good spirits and that will get you through
anything, verdad?
We began our first class of the week with an approach based
on leaves and foliage. I asked El Charco for a few samples of some of the local
shrubs or small trees--mesquite and acacia--and one of the workers came into
the class with a few big branches pruned from the shrubs! Full of thorns, too,
ouch!
New students are ALWAYS so appreciative of the way that we
teach drawing with pencils. They say that despite the art classes they may have
had earlier, no one had ever taught them how to hold pencils, make marks on the
paper, and create the kind of shading or toning the way that we teach at DBG.
Whoo hooo! They are excited and eager to learn.
Although I understand you are having some more wintry
weather there in Denver it is very hot here in Mexico. But the evenings and
mornings are cool so it remains very pleasant. Of course I am so excited to be
out and about the town that I am walking about in the heat, anyway. You know
what they say, "Mad dogs and Englishmen....." Maybe the wrong
country, the wrong continent, even, but I think it still applies!
Hasta Manana,
Karrrrrla (roll those rrrrrs)
