I see myself as an artist. I always have. Why? Becasue I’ve always drawn and no one has ever interferred and told me how to do it. I’ve just done it my way. Drawn what I felt like drawing, drawn it how I thought it should go. This has allowed me to develop my own style, at my own pace and it’s still developing to this day. Sadly, too many adults that I know, and even sadder, lots of children, think that they cannot draw or create. Yes, some people are born more creative than others. But everyone can create. What stops children and adults from creating? Teachers and parents. As a teacher and a parent, I cringe when I think about how I used to teach art in the classroom. At a lot of schools, too much value is placed on the teacher who has one of those classrooms, where you walk in and all the art is generic and bright. Perfectly hung. The art all looks the same. The class looks immaculate. To be clear, I know lots of amazing teachers who’s classes are like this. They’re doing a great job. But as far as creativity goes. Should “Jimmy’s” art look like “Andrew’s”? No it shouldn’t. In my first year of teaching, I had a class of six year olds. I saw in a book, this amazing 3D sunflower art. I wanted to give it a shot. I worked witht the kids in groups. So that I could control every aspect of what they were doing. Step by step. “Paint the backround blue first.” “Now paint the petals.” “No not that way!”… (cringe). The art took forever and I was stressed, the kids were too scared to do a thing without me looking. Some had mini meltdowns.The sunflowers looked amazing. I had 26 amazing, nearly identical sunflowers to hang up in my class. (Again, cringe). When I started having children of my own. I started to realise that I needed to back off when it came to my kid’s art. I started doing relief teaching. When I’d arrive that morning to the class I was filling in for. The teacher would often say to me, “Oh you’re an artist! Can you do art with the kids today?” I would feel sad inside. I knew the teacher had expectations of me doing something “amazing” with…
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I’m really looking forward to sharing the inner workings of my art adventure! It has been a ride for sure. With some ups and downs along the way. I thought I’d start by sharing with you how Sez’ Art got started. All those years ago… As you’ve read about me before, I’ve been drawing all my life. It wasn’t until I had babies and toddlers at home that I wanted to make an income out of it. My drawing and painting was still developing (it always is) and I wasn’t sure what to do. Canvases were pretty expensive to buy, so I got MDF boards and a builder friend cut them up for me. I painted fairies, unicorns, dragons, and diggers. Anything that I felt would appeal for children’s rooms. I had them hanging in my own children’s rooms and friends would comment and get me to do one for their children.I used to sign my name as Sez on the paintings. Facebook wasn’t around then, so promoting what I did was pretty basic. I didn’t really have the time for mass production anyway! I went to our local market. I would sell the odd one. Most times I made enough to cover my stall and a little bit of profit. I had a great repeat customer who lived in Tauranga at the time (she might know who she is!). She used to ring me when she needed a birthday gift for a child. This went on for a few years but fizzled out once the kids got older and I was teaching more often. (I’m Primary School trained). I love teaching, but the artistic creative in me needs to be nurtured in order for me to feel balanced. Sez’ Art really became a thing many years after this. I was hardly doing any art. But my mind was always drifting to it. The desire to write and illustrate a book was always there too (that will be another blog post!). One year I took a part-time teaching job at a school. It was a job that should have been perfect for me. But, without going into sensitive detail, I was miserable, stressed and getting disillusioned. This was unusual for me, as I’d always felt happy and successful with my teaching. By the end of the year, I was so stressed that I really felt that I needed to change career.…
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