Left to right: Susan Schneider, Nancy Friedman and Jillian Moon
This summer interested members of the Fine Arts Club traveled to the Mesa Art Center for eight consecutive Fridays to express their feelings in paint, chalk, markers and colored pencils. The class was with Bela Fidel and was entitled Mindfulness and Self Expression. The object of the class was to express whatever feeling or adventure in line and color came to our hands without thinking about composition or other rules of art that we had learned through the years. It was often difficult to sit in front of a blank piece of white paper without a composition or picture already in mind to create. Since not having a composition or picture in mind was part of the class, some meditation was used to help clear our minds. Sometimes music was added to the atmosphere of the room. We were to start using any art media or color that came to us spontaneously. For those of us who like to do detailed work, this class definitely took us “out of the box.” It was frequently difficult to keep our minds detached from our “creations.” The creations here were not only done with brushes, but also with palette knives and fingers. Although we were not to be judgmental of our work or feelings at the time, the three of us picked out some of our creations we preferred to be displayed. It was a very liberating start to the summer for us, and we continue to have fun trying new techniques and mediums. One can usually find us having fun in the paint on Wednesday mornings. We would love for those interested in oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, pen, charcoal or colored pencils to join us. Also check out the article in this issue on our acrylic art class being held in November for those just wishing to try painting in acrylics without investing in all the supplies until they try it.