Shout Out To Degen

I have loved art my entire life. I remember winning a newsprint pad with Grover on it for some art I did in grade one. Then in grade three I remember winning another contest at school and my picture was made into Christmas cards. In grade eight one of my drawings won an honourable mention and I was given a plaque with my art scanned onto it. In high school I took art in grade nine and then signed up for typing in grade ten. The art teacher asked me to join him for a meeting with the principal and they talked me into continuing with art--- hence it takes me a long time to type up these posts! I won the art award at grade twelve graduation. I began University with the plan of taking Fine Arts and really enjoyed my first studio class with Bob Christie, painting in oils (the only time I ever have). In second year I was so intimidated by the Professor, Otto Rogers, and the class that I didn't go back after the first day. I switched to Sociology and didn't take another studio class again, but I kept up with art history. What can I say, I was young and silly. Now I know I could have gained some valuable experience in that class and maybe not lost so much time. Who knows?

In my early twenties I actually got into making porcelain dolls. I won a few local contests and had them in a northern Saskatchewan gallery for a few seasons. Then I got busy with my career and life and didn't do much for years. Turning thirty was hard for me, but from it I decided I didn't want to turn forty or sixty or eighty and regret not pursuing things I loved. So that fall I registered for a Life Drawing class with Degen Lindner. I was so curious to meet her because my grandmother had a large watercolour painting done by her father, Ernest Lindner, and I stared at it in her living room every time I visited her. Degen was wonderful and encouraging from the very first class. I remember the feeling of excitement when I left that first night and vowed to myself that I would never allow myself to let art go again. I have taken many Life Drawing night classes with Degen over the years and also taken 4 painting workshops with her at Emma Lake. She has been positive and encouraging all the way. She is so talented and has such an eye for art of all kinds. I swear every time I have made the changes she has suggested the work is always better. And she has a way of finding something positive no matter what. She is amazing to see in a class teaching and guiding her students...and a wonderful sense of humour to go with all her knowledge... and listening to her talk about the history of her father and other artists is like a precious gift. I have learned so much from her.

After I had my baby in 2002 I slowly let art begin to slip away. Then after my second baby I was so sleep deprived I was just trying to survive each day. She saw I was struggling and asked if I would take care of her plants at the studio while she was at the lake for the summer (2006) and said I could use her space if I liked. How generous is that? And then when she got home in the fall she offered to let me continue sharing the space. Now I am about to get my own space in December and when I told her my plan she was once again extremely supportive. She said it was the right thing for me to do and that I needed my own space because she could see I was getting more serious. You know how they say that there are something like seven people in everyone's life that make such a difference (good or bad) that your life is forever changed by knowing them? Well, she is one of my seven.... and my life has definitely changed for the better by knowing her.

Today I have posted two sketches I did in Degen's Life Drawing classes. Each drawing took about 2 1/2 hours.