I grew up being told that I was gifted at art. All through my school years, art was one of the subjects I was naturally good at. So, it was no surprise that at the age of ten that I had already decided that I was going to be an artist. At school the favored students were the little group of “gifted”ones. In fact, the teachers seemed to assume everyone else really should not be in the class. There never seemed to be a method to what we were doing. No one realized that true artists are made not born.
There is only so far a gift will take you. Hard work and practice will take someone from mediocre to expert.
Artists are Made Not Born
When I dived into the pool of motherhood and homeschooling I realized that the “gift” I had been given was one of seeing the world differently to other people. So, they could be trained to do the same but it was not something that they were born with. That “gift” was just a head start not a rule that only those people could become artists. So, I came to realize that most artists are made, not born. Similarly, some of them have a little edge at the beginning but, they will eventually be overtaken through diligent practice.
In fact, I saw this firsthand with my third child. She was born with a pencil in her hand. Above all, he loved art from a very early age. At 14, she had the opportunity to spend half her day at a local technical school in the commercial art department. Actually, I have to admit that I was actually quite envious. I would have loved to leave all the laundry and dishes for four hours a day and go and paint and draw. In four years her drawing went from cute to a very high level of technical skill. Her confidence as an artist grew to match that. Also, she was extremely confident because she could draw and paint. How did she get there? Hours and hours of practice.
Yes, there are people that are born to paint and draw, Leonardo comes to mind. However, there are also artists that were made because they wanted to be one and put in the practice to become one.
How to Homeschool
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Sally is a native of England. She came here in her early 20’s, got married and had eight kids that she homeschools.
She is a trained artist that has become passionate about passing on her skills. At the age of ten, she knew that she wanted to be an artist and thought that is was a career for people that had a “gift”.
She followed her dream and attended Loughborough College of Art and Design in England where she obtained her degree in art.
As a homeschool mum, she realized that art is not just for the gifted, but can be taught incrementally like any subject.
She saw first hand how traditional teaching methods for this subject can be detrimental. Now, she wants to share her passion with children young and old to ignite their own love of creating art.
