May 2013 Trip, Part II--Teaching Art on a Cruise

The most fun part of teaching an art class on a cruise is meeting interesting people. However, there are  some limiting factors to teaching on a ship. The class runs about one hour and is held in a room with plenty of seating, but small round tables. (Both cruises I've been on have held the classes in a large lounge.) Also, participants run from total beginners to quite experienced artists, so the project has to have some sophistication, yet be adaptable to the simpler activity of learning to use paints.

After my first experience of teaching watercolor classes on my cruise to Alaska last May, I realized I could help participants have a much better experience with some organizational changes. It also improved my experience because everything ran so smoothly!

• The best "new thing" was using my iPad which had 2 to 4 minute demonstrations of each project. I simply connected the iPad to the ship's digital projector and "viola" the entire project, start to finish, was projected on a large screen.
• Because of the limited time and the fact that many people have difficulty doing a drawing, I had each landscape and floral project lightly sketched on watercolor paper. 
• I was prepared for 50 students (which is what the ship requires) and knew ahead how things would be shared and what type of brushes would work best for any given project.

The first project was Paint a Card. I suggested that people choose one word to paint by charging in one color to the next, then decorate the rest of the card with "confetti" type brushmarks. You can see how creative people got with this one.

 

This photo gives you a view of the workspace in the Pyramid lounge. 

This group concentrated on their work.

Everyone found success with a mosaic project.

Gentlemen can paint!

I loved the adventurous colors used by this fellow.

It was fun to have a diverse age group.

Even Landscapes were a breeze for this group.

                               

                             

I really enjoyed the family groups who came to the classes.

The final project was the one I was most concerned about. Painting a floral, and a poinsettia in particular, might be challenging for some beginners, but these participants dove into the painting and came up smiling.

I was so happy to see Paul and Gina ( my new British BFF's) show up for my last class. After sharing so many stories and laughs each night at our dining table, I was glad they came to paint.