Struggled. Stretched. Grew.

Spectacular painting.
And the best things about this spectacular painting ... is that 1. it is of my beloved pups and, 2. I got to see it happen before my eyes.

Jennifer Mercede got inspired by a photo of my two pups, Toby and Scout, yesterday during one of the lessons that she was teaching and started drawing them in front of us.

True to their personalities, Toby took most of the space and Scout took just a small corner.

And then Jennifer started adding color. During this process, she shared out loud about what she was thinking. And at this very moment when she was adding red, she shared that she was a bit scared about what she was doing ... wondering if she was doing the right thing ... it was great to hear her being vulnerable about the process and then seeing her power through her fears and making bold moves to make new discoveries.

By example, she led us to do the same.

We struggled as we discussed substantive concepts.

We stretched as we left our comfort zones and tried new methods.

And we grew artistically with the INCREDIBLE process that she so masterfully guided us through.

The painting she did of Toby and Scout is just one example of MANY methods and approaches that we learned. And we learned SO much.
My family and I had the honor of hosting Jennifer and I loved seeing my kids enjoy seeing Jennifer's art and getting to know her. We had some great laughs with her. Andrew in particular was so inspired by her random doodled words that he saw in her works. He especially pointed out in one painting of flowers and pretty things that there was the word "SOUP" doodled prominently on the piece. He said "That's so rad that such a random word that has nothing to do with the painting can be there." And during class, as Jennifer explained the thought process related to her random text, it made sense like it has never made sense before.

I am so thankful and honored that Studio CRESCENDOh was able to host Jennifer's first workshop. We will be working to bring her back in 2013 so stay tuned. Special thanks to artist Pam Garrison who first introduced me to the work of Jennifer and encouraged me to develop this workshop for the studio.