Caroline Graham teaching

This past weekend I took a workshop at Houston Art League with 11 other women. The workshop was called, “Painting People from Photographs.” As with all workshops I learned a lot from Caroline Graham, our instructor, but what was most profound was being in the presence of these women who were at all different stages of their painting skills but yet they chose to come & spend their weekend working on their craft, in the presence of other women. They left their families, children, husbands, chores, & homes to paint on canvases. Who do they think they are?  – following their passion.

etherial & Klimt like

Then this week I found the Netflix DVD, Who Does She Think She Is? in my mailbox & just loved it. I highly recommend it, it’s not only interesting but eye-candy for the artists soul.

The movie is a documentary filled with interviews of women artists & what it is like juggling family, home, & studio time. It shows how spouses often get jealous & feel as if they are less important than the art. I loved how Maye Torres from Taos said, that her ex-husband didn’t come second to her art, but that her art was who she is, without her expressing herself on paper & in sculpture she wouldn’t be fully herself. It’s not that her art was separate from her or just something she did. It is who she is. I really resonated with that idea.

Click here for a great video trailer of the movie & the website. http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/