Las Vegas Painting Convention Redux

After a crippling series of back spasms in February cut short my first attempts to teach my painting to a group of artists at the Creative Painting Convention in Las Vegas, I got a letter Friday that hopefully renewed my opportunities for teaching in 2014. I had submitted six paintings and was hoping I would get two smaller four hour classes next year. I knew my record wasn't too great but....

PLUMARIAS by Alan Krug

I was elated that at least one class was chosen, and a 6 hour class at that! The plumaries in my backyard had been photographed and one of the photos of them was painted. Luckily I had carefully documented this painting, the last before I began my cactus series (which I also submitted). In retrospect, it was one of the last paintings I thought to offer. You just never know.

I will tell you that THIS time, I will not wait until the last minute to find a few "artist guinea pigs" to teach. As I learned from the oil painting I never got to teach, what you think happened may not be what actually happened. A teacher I know told me that even after 25 years of teaching, she had to re-write her instructions after teaching her class. She had made some mistakes and had to come home and rewrite what she had written.

You have to wonder, do you think that a Monet, or Gauguin, even Van Gogh could teach you how to paint in their style? I think that it takes a special kind of person that can teach others how to paint their own artistic work. And whether you like the style or not, each artist has their own unique technique.

From the moment that I started taking art classes, I was struck by how different each student's painting was from the teachers. Often, you would often wonder if they were, in fact, painting the same thing. It seemed to make no difference. In my art class in Sierra Madre, CA, classes in Norco, CA or Las Vegas, if there was a group of people painting the same painting, trust me, they were NOT alike.

However, the next logical question is, does it matter? If that is your vision of what you see and you are happy with it, again, does it matter?

Anyway, I am excited and hope I will be able to teach this class. It will be a kind of vindication and proof to me, that what I teach has some value to others.

I urge all of you to check out the web site, http://www.vegaspaint.com and check out the artists. The new catalog should be ready by July 2013. Hopefully, I will see you there!

Alan