The Clayboard Class

I’ve never been very good at following verbal instructions when I’m taking a workshop. What often happens is that I hear (and see) what I’m supposed to do, then I immediately wonder how I can give things my own spin and go off on a tangent. I get so involved that I ignore what everyone else is doing (even the instructor), and I usually end up with something completely off base. That’s what happened here in the Clayboard workshop at Artfest, so I wasn’t very happy with what I “produced.”
Sometimes I think my main role in this kind of experience is to make everyone else feel better about what they’re doing! Not only was I the slowest person in this class, but I also failed to use most of the techniques that Mary Beth Shaw showed us—like how to mix colors—and I could certainly have benefited from that if I’d been paying more attention.
One thing I did notice was that I spend way more time on composition than other people do, instead of just going with the flow. While there are times when this works to my advantage, in this case, the means didn’t justify the end.
Martha told me that she always follows exactly what the instructor says so that she can pick up new techniques and use them properly. I just wish we’d had this discussion before Artfest instead of on the plane coming back.