Becoming Fess

I may not have been born to teach, but I was surely raised to.
Within my family, there was no higher calling, than to be a teacher.  My father was a successful aerospace engineer, and took pride in that, but his greatest joy was the time he spent mentoring younger engineers, passing on the knowledge which he had accumulated.
My maternal grandfather was the consummate teacher, The Professor, a teacher of teachers, celebrated within his community, and held in a regard which surpassed that of we mere mortals.
In my forties, I built a respectable career, I was in demand as a design consultant.  But it was not until I began teaching at the local college that any praise came my way from my family.  At last I had done something which really matters.  I taught part time from 1990-2005.  These past 6 years I have really missed it, missed passing on what I know to motivated and interested adult students.  My job was supposed to include some mentoring, and I suppose that it does, a bit...but the focus has been so weighted to the commercial side of design, that the artisitic, at which I excel, and which I can teach, has taken a back-burner.

And now, I find myself with an art student.  A shout out to S, should he ever read this blog.  My student is creative, enthusiastic, and gifted with the time and the drive to learn to paint.
I had decided to be an artist when I was about 5 years old, and so I have a 55+ year head start.  My student has just discovered the stone rush of emersing oneself in the process of fine art.  It is really a joy, a gift to spend time with this motivated sponge, and our initial task has been to narrow-down the plethora of possibilites before us, to pick a path, so many are open to us.

With a developed interested in the Japanese aestheic of landscaping, my student has specific goals, projects he wants to get to, subject matter which speaks to him.  I am trying to feed him the technique and options which provide him with tools to do what he wants, as well as to encourage a step back, a habit of continual re-focus on the big picture, the whole, the greater relationships and questions which will give him the most choice.  What a joy to play with materials, and address aestheic concerns, after a week of writing contracts and clarifying billings!