About Arty Dragonfly lessons:

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I believe drawing to be a very teachable subject that will amaze the most resistant or skeptical student. It is a matter of teaching art in a way that is inclusive of all expression, in a safe, non-competitive environment. Art is meant to bring delight, freedom of expression, and doing art is a way to communicate what is inside us, about the world about us. Art is mysteriously playful and yet very serious business. Serious, because it touches emotions within that lie hidden. Serious, because doing art enables us to see our potential to do many other things we never thought possible. Serious, because the problem-solving aspects of drawing painting helps develop the mind to receive, understand, and develop all other academic subjects of language, writing, math, even social studies. 

I speak a lot about joy at Arty Dragonfly. There is an ancient scripture that says, “Men are that they might have joy.” I believe that. Why else are there infinite arrangements of colors, textures, plant life, creatures, and structures, both God-created and man-made, in the immeasurable universe for us to observe? Are they not amazing to behold? And once beheld, isn’t there the desire to put it all down on paper so others may see what we have seen?  Some things in the world are fleeting. Drawing and painting preserves them long after they are gone. Like the written word, doing art records and preserves the things that touch the soul in a life/soul transforming way. Viewing a picture that is worth a thousand words can be compelling, but drawing or painting a picture worth a thousand words, no matter how simple it may be, changes the artist for the better forever.

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Drawing comes naturally and early to every child, as does movement, music, and laughter. These are all part of toddlers’ abilities to communicate, to express themselves, even to worship. About the age of eight or nine a child wants to replicate what he or she sees in a more representational way. To some it seems to come easy. I say it seems so, but what the child has is a tenacity to experiment with art and work it diligently, persistently, to solve the problems he sees come out of his pencil or brush. To others, putting on paper what they see becomes is a difficult challenge. The joy of drawing, just for the fun of it, begins to fade and no instruction or encouragement can bridge that image of their ability adequately. Soon the child moves on to other areas where he or she excels or has more interest, and he no longer tries to do art. Then, too, oftentimes a child’s work is compared or judged in a