What an experience! I so enjoyed teaching my very first workshop, Intuitive Abstracts. How did this happen? A friend, who is a fabulous artist and teacher, Micah Goguen, offered me the chance to teach this workshop as part of his Art and Yoga Therapy Retreat.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The leaves were just starting to turn on some of the trees. I was so nervous the night before the workshop began that I couldn’t sleep. As it turned out, I didn’t have anything to worry about. The students were welcoming and supportive. 

To prepare for this workshop, I did a lot of planning and trying out ideas that I hoped would help the students get in touch with their inner creativity. 

Intuitive Abstracts planning © 2018 Karen Phillips

I read through books and workshop notes I had to find a way to talk about the process I use in my own work to access my intuition while painting. It was an exciting and terrifying project and I wanted their experience to be perfect. 

Once the workshop was underway, I began to see other ways I could explain the exercises. I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how I could help them in this journey of self discovery. I would make notes and sometimes completely change my lesson plan for the next day. It felt so good to be able to share my knowledge with other artists. Knowledge and experience that I have been gathering and didn’t really know the depth and breadth of it until it just started flowing out of me.

Intuitive Abstracts workshop, photo by Carol Vey

The students were eager to learn. They would spend extra time in the evening to try to finish the projects that I had assigned them. 

Intuitive Abstracts student’s exercises © 2018 Karen Phillips

Their eagerness to learn thoroughly impressed me. I was glad I decided to accept the opportunity to teach the workshop. My husband was also instrumental in this endeavor. He even drove us over four hours to Wildacres from Atlanta. I am so grateful to him for his support.

Intuitive Abstracts students busy working on their assignments © 2018 Karen Phillips

What opportunity or challenge have you accepted and what was the outcome? Share your experiences in the comments below.