Where Am I Going? Where Do I Want to Go?

Our botanical art instructor occasionally asks us to reflect on our goals in art - to ask ourselves: Where do I want to go? How have I progressed over the past six months... the past year?

I do the same for myself, she tells us.

So as my fall painting and pottery classes come to an end, and I look at my latest painting, I ask myself if I have made progress...

It is a lot different than my first botanical art sketch at my first class several springs ago -  an outdoor drawing class at a wild flower garden. I remember being afraid to make dark lines... Was I doing it right?! Everyone else's seemed so much better.


















I didn't know how to paint with watercolors back then, so I used only pencils and pencil crayons. I think I have gained confidence. But now, where do I want to go? More of the same? Or something new? I'm not sure.

And as I look at the first two batches of pottery I have made - the first, a lighter blue color than the second...

Do I have fewer "wonky" ones?!














I don't see that much progress yet. My third batch isn't much better...

The more experienced students in my class were making sets of mugs or bowls to give as gifts at Christmas. My goal is to be able to make two mugs or bowls that are more or less the same. So I plan to continue taking pottery classes this winter, and see if I improve. It's harder than it looks!