Monday 16^th March

I was on holiday recently in a lovely hotel overlooking a beautiful bay. The hotel was in a tropical country so it was very hot and a change from the end of a Scottish winter. I was painting some of the wonderful flowers in the hotel when one of the staff approached me. She liked what I was painting and said she would love to paint but that she could not even draw. I asked if she’d ever tried to draw and offered to show her how to begin. Later, after she had finished work for the day, we sat down and we painted some flowers together.

I demonstrated and Luana followed what I did.

At the end of a couple of hours she was hooked and decided that watercolour painting was for her. I think she has a natural talent for painting and should do very well if she pursues it.

It is amazing how showing someone what to do focuses your mind on how you are actually doing things, how you look at an object and begin to represent it on a two dimensional surface. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching Luanna and she seemed to gain a lot from it. It has also helped me to re-look at what I do and how I do it, so we both benefited from the experience.

Aileen