Art Adventures - by Patricia Banks©
Published in Nanaimo Magazine & Voyager Magazine - August 2015
"Every artist was first an amateur." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. These are encouraging words for anyone on a creative journey. For professional artists, it is a reminder to embrace opportunities for continued education. My Art Adventure this month took me to Toronto. I had a chance to do some teaching and I was very lucky to be able to do some learning, with my good friend Olaf! (www.olaf.ca)
Organizing art supplies for a flight requires planning, as both weight of baggage and the actual art supply contents, are critical. You can't take everything. Happily, Toronto could provide what I might forget at the click of "Maps" and "Art Stores" on my cell phone.
A true adventure presents the unexpected! As Robert Burns wrote: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry..." In the best sense of this quote, it is exciting when a plan opens up into an range of new possibilities. While I was in Toronto, Olaf learned that he won a painting competition for the prestigious Queen's Plate at Woodbine Racetrack. With gratitude and thanks to Olaf and his lovely wife Tracey, my painting lessons spontaneously mushroomed into a series of activities and events that included lots of fun and life lessons. They enveloped me into their joyful lifestyle and I came away with a new vision of what it is to be an artist.
Like others, I am accomplished at many things. It is a blessing to be able to learn. In this way, we are available for new directions and challenges as they present, without the constraints that being an "expert" might impose. William Feather once said: "One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure." I say, look at life as an Art Adventure!
Published in Nanaimo Magazine & Voyager Magazine - August 2015
"Every artist was first an amateur." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. These are encouraging words for anyone on a creative journey. For professional artists, it is a reminder to embrace opportunities for continued education. My Art Adventure this month took me to Toronto. I had a chance to do some teaching and I was very lucky to be able to do some learning, with my good friend Olaf! (www.olaf.ca)
Organizing art supplies for a flight requires planning, as both weight of baggage and the actual art supply contents, are critical. You can't take everything. Happily, Toronto could provide what I might forget at the click of "Maps" and "Art Stores" on my cell phone.
A true adventure presents the unexpected! As Robert Burns wrote: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry..." In the best sense of this quote, it is exciting when a plan opens up into an range of new possibilities. While I was in Toronto, Olaf learned that he won a painting competition for the prestigious Queen's Plate at Woodbine Racetrack. With gratitude and thanks to Olaf and his lovely wife Tracey, my painting lessons spontaneously mushroomed into a series of activities and events that included lots of fun and life lessons. They enveloped me into their joyful lifestyle and I came away with a new vision of what it is to be an artist.
Like others, I am accomplished at many things. It is a blessing to be able to learn. In this way, we are available for new directions and challenges as they present, without the constraints that being an "expert" might impose. William Feather once said: "One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure." I say, look at life as an Art Adventure!
