THE MASTER'S TOUCH

Every now and then you get the chance to meet a true Master – someone whose light shines so radiantly your own can’t help but glow a bit brighter in their presence.  I’ve met several in my life, including musicians, swamis, martial artists, and Olympians.  What I’ve noticed about these men and women is, they may have different skills, different crafts they excelled at, but there is a similarity in their nature.

Last weekend, six friends got together at our cottage to learn how to paint.  Sandie had painted forty years ago, Wendy had tried it for the first time last year, and four of us (including me) had never learned a thing about painting with acrylics. 

It all started with Wendy who spent a day with our neighbour, Shelley Houghton, last summer.  Shelley is a retired elementary school teacher and knows how to get kids – and adults – to succeed.  When I saw Wendy’s painting on Facebook I couldn’t believe the declared newbie had accomplished it in a day!  At a campfire last fall, a group of us convinced Shelley to try to work her magic again so we planned a fun ‘girl’s day’ around it with a pot luck lunch and bubbly and appetizers at the end of the day to celebrate.

Meanwhile, Shelley is not only an outstanding teacher, she is also an award winning painter.  She recently won Mississauga’s Art Battle and is heading to the regional finals.  If you haven’t heard of Art Battle, it is one of those wonderful cultural events that brings patrons up close to watch the art process unfold.  Twelve painters compete in three twenty-minute rounds and the audience votes for the best in each round and the best over-all.  Yes, twenty minutes to create a painting means the artists – some professional and others up-and-coming – have to get to the point quickly - not a lot of time for small brush details.

Our day started weeks ago when we submitted photos to Shelley for approval.  I sent three: a bunch of wild daisies, a hay field, and a photo I’d taken of my husband drinking coffee by the lake.  To my surprise, the one she thought I’d have the most success with is the one with a person in it. Yikes! 

We all started off with a solid background - mine was yellow – and then began adding elements.  Mireille was a ‘dabber’, dotting her canvas with colour for her fall landscape. I was a ‘stroker’, waving my brush side to side, blending the hues to create sky and water.

We had lessons on how to use the brushes, like scumbling with and elephant brush to create misty areas and clouds, and using a fan brush to create textures for pine branches and bark.  I couldn’t get over the results we were getting.  With Shelley’s easy guidance and firm knowledge, each one of us was producing work we never knew we were capable of.

And then, after lunch, I had to paint in my husband from behind as he looked out over the lake. I would have had a panic attack if I hadn’t come to trust Shelley and her process.  She showed me how to map it out and suggested I cheat a bit and sketch it on a piece of paper first then use some tracing paper to get the outline in.  I felt myself wanting to freak out so kept relaxing myself using my breath and softening my gaze.  Dab by dab the curly hair was done and stroke by stroke the clothes were mostly done.  Next was painting a hand holding a coffee mug.  Help! She calmly showed me how to imagine it and gave me a plate of paints with dabs of red, yellow, white, blue and brown to make the flesh colour.  With a few fixes it was okay – not great, but okay.  Then standing back, something wasn’t quite right.  Where was the other hand?  In the photo it was out of sight but in the painting it didn’t look right, so we added a right hand waving. I was gaining confidence so had a bit more fun playing with it. After ten minutes or so of more tweaking I was done my masterpiece, and so were most of the others.

The bottles were uncorked, the ribs heated and it was time to celebrate – celebrate the works we created, celebrate the feelings of accomplishment, and celebrate the Master in our midst.

They say you can tell how great a Master is not by how many students he or she has but by how many Masters he or she creates.  With easy laughter and firm support, Shelley Houghton is brilliantly leading the way for many to shine brightly! Thank you Shelley!