Ellen Hofrath-Stovall This weekend I got a very much needed confirmation of why I love art and why I must continue making it, even art and I drifted apart a bit. Recently, due to my work schedule, I don’t paint much and I don’t have that much time left to promote and provide workshops. But now I’m on fire again, and love to tell you why and how. I know a sweet and lovely Syrian couple. He lived next door to me before he moved out to marry his now wife. Since we met in the hallway of our house a few years ago, we met occasionally, without being too close. But as time went by he and his cousin, who still lives in the apartment we used to support each other when necessary. I helped with bureaucracy or some “motherly advice”, while they moved some heavy stuff or walked my dog when I was sick. Both were refugees, as they are christians and had to flee so they were not killed. They had to leave their families behind and got here at just 17 years old. So I filled the supportive gap and provided a shoulder when needed. Georges (the one who is married) is a very determined and busy young man. He found a job, as soon as his documents were ready. He wanted to bring his fiancee to Germany and support his family who had to stay or chose to in Syria. In just a few years he managed to get a German drivers license, get married, and also got the German citizenship. As soon as they got back from their honeymoon he introduced his wife to me. She is a very shy, beautiful young lady who soon got pregnant and they are happily expecting their daughter. Unfortunately even though she is really smart she didn’t get her German lessons far enough to be able to speak or understand really well. And so she is annoyed, bored and frustrated, as she stays at home alone most of the time, while he is working. That is why I offered them a fluid painting workshop. Mostly for her to have a positive experience and confirmation but also for them as a couple, to do something fun together. When they arrived, they were a bit intimidated seeing my preparations. They brought their own paints and we started with some mixing and theory about fluid painting. They enjoyed the mixing a lot and we already had fun and started communicating with and and feet, as we say in German.
As usual I gave them some tiles to practice their techniques of choice and figure out how the picked colors match. For the first attempts I prefer using tiles, as you can wash them easily, when you are unhappy with the result and they are cheap.
And we had a blast. As I already expected, she picked it up really fast and needed only some advice about how to do it, and some encouragement and glitter to sprinkle over her creations. I don’t know what it is with females and glitter, but it works the majority of times. Glitter upgrades everything!
She had so much fun and was so focused, that she always asked her husband for vocabulary, as she wanted to inform herself. We also made a bit of fun about her husband, as he struggled much more and proved himself to be a bit clumsy. It was so beautiful and satisfying for me to see how proud they were at the end of the day about their work. They finished 5 different canvases and tiles and each one was beautiful. She was almost in tears, that she could create such beautiful art. When we were done, we shared some coffee and cake and talked about the experience. After I presented them with some other things you can create with fluid painting, we already made a new appointment, as she wants to do some things for their baby. Both are very excited to return in a couple of days to pick up their, then dry pieces. I am very grateful for this experience, as it revived my love for art and teaching. The only thing left for me is to figure out a way to provide more workshops again. What is your forgotten passion?
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