I have been toying with the idea of online art classes for over a year.
The world is being taken over by Corona virus craziness and lots of us are in self isolation, which means it is an ideal time to run them.
I had the perfect class to bring people together. Something suitable for adults as well as kids.
I thought it would be easy, but boy was I wrong! My plan was to do a Facebook live and get it all done in one go with the class lasting an hour. I wanted kids and adults to join, and to ask questions and to share their art works. I wanted it to be a community of people creating at the same time. An hour prep and 1 hour class, time spent answering questions and supporting the group and if all went well, I would make it a weekly thing.
Alas, that vision was not to be. My phone kept cutting out midway through doing trial lives. I had to think of plan B.
Next attempt was recording the lesson in one go then I was going to upload it to Facebook. NOPE! My phone kept shutting down midway through a video.
"Ok I can do this!" I thought, "I'll film it in 3 parts". Sounds simple right?
NOPE again.
I won't bore you with all the details but here are some of the stats:
* My phone shut down so many times that I had to film the class 18 times
* Filming from a camera doesn't work because you can't see if you are in the shot or not and can't pause
* I was so nervous and stressed that the class wouldn't be filmed by 1pm that I possibly said "um" a million times. By part 2 and the 18th time filming, I was super relaxed= Ha ha
* Uploading a 6 minute video to Facebook takes 11 hours= What???
* If everyone is in isolation at home and all on the internet, the internet drops out midway through uploading and you have to start all over again = tears
* Leaving the videos to upload overnight when everyone is asleep doesn't necessarily work = devastation
* You need to ban your family from using the internet for 4 days to upload 3 videos to Google docs = tears and arguments
* Non stop day and night filming and uploading took from 10am Wednesday until 4pm Saturday!
* Putting the video links in a PDF works! = Thank god
I think I have 100 more grey hairs and wrinkles right now!
I was so upset that I couldn't provide the class at 1pm on Wednesday and saw the pictures of your kids ready to go. I was excited that so many people were doing the class and I had some new followers but also feeling so awful that I was disappointing people.
Not all was lost! I always look at obstacles as a time to learn lessons.
I am not a technologically challenged. I love that stuff. This was one particular case where everything just seemed to go against me.
So, what did I learn?
1. Use a camera instead of a phone and have someone there to direct.
2. Have everything filmed and uploaded before I tell everyone what time the class will be
2. Just use Zoom to avoid all of this
3. Work out how to film from above so you can see all of what I am doing
4. Stop saying "um"
5. Be patient.
6. Don't stress out about things you can't control
7. It has been a good way to be open and honest with my art followers
I worked though the challenges and am really proud of my first ever online art class
So, do you want to do the class with me?
It uses minimal supplies and is suitable for any ability. No art experience is necessary!
You can do the lesson by yourself, with your family or gather some friends online and do it together.
Click the paints to get your supply list and class videos!
It is free!
Don't forget to let us all know how you went. Post your finished picture or write a comment on the Facebook or Instagram posts with the hashtags #thingsthatmakemehappy #creativeabyss
I can't wait to see and hear all about it!
For those of you who have been waiting for this class, I want to say thank you for your patience and understanding.
My hope is for you to spend some time thinking of the positive things in your life and what is important to you.
Happy arting!
x
Jade
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