School Is Out, School Is Out

...the teacher let the monkeys out,
No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.

Well, I don't think it was THAT bad for my microbiology students at the local community college! In fact, many of them shuck hands with me after turning in their final exams, and one gal even gave me a thank you card. She said she was never a big participant in her previous classes, but apparently I encouraged her to speak up and answer my questions in class. (She was good at it, too -- almost always right). She felt I had helped her develop skills that will be with her for the rest of her life. (A few other students had told me some of their instructors made them feel stupid in class, which is sad).

So at least in a few cases, I guess I made a difference in the students' lives. I'm glad they let me know -- that really is a good feeling, and I know teachers live for those moments. Maybe teaching is my calling, not art which has been terribly frustrating to think of as anything resembling an income source.

As far as art goes, I now consider it a hobby with a possibility of making SOME money at it. But as far as putting lots of energy into trying to sell my artwork, well, the energy seems to be gone. I'm just out of gas. I have some paintings in a gallery/gift shop in Palm Springs, I have a print available on Fine Art America, and that may be it for selling efforts. As I often say nowadays -- "we'll see."

Meanwhile, I can't say when the next teaching opportunity will present itself, but hopefully it won't be another three years before I'm needed again.

 

May I Borrow Your Crystal Ball?

Had a bit of a scare this week...

As some of you know, I teach microbiology part-time at a local community college. When the semester started this past Monday, I had only six students enrolled in my class. That's not very many, and I know the college folks were seriously considering transferring the six to the the morning class, taught by another instructor. And I'd be unemployed for the rest of the year.

However, all six students work full-time during the day and were unable to switch. Since micro is the last course these guys need to continue on into nursing school, simply canceling the class would have screwed them up majorly. So the class will continue on, and I'll be receiving a paycheck for the rest of the year, barring complications on my part.

But the scare brought to mind why I promised myself, years ago, that I'd never again have only one financial lifeline. It's so easy to have that lifeline cut for any number of reasons, or for no reason at all. I'd love to have a Plan B -- some kind of income-generating enterprise to supplement the teaching position.

Frankly, other than selling paintings, I don't have a Plan B, and art sales are definitely suffering during these horrid economic times (which could get worse in the days ahead according to some economists).

The only thing I can do at this point is to go ahead and make paintings that will be put up for sale...some day. I don't know if this recession will end in my lifetime -- I hope so, but who knows?

In any case, I still plan to paint landscapes that I want to keep -- but sell them if/when the right opportunity comes. Not just any opportunity, but the right one. I won't be so easy-going in the future, even if it costs me sales. I just can't invest large quantities of time or money, or have pieces hanging in a gallery with no financial commitment on the part of the gallery owner, while I try to figure out how to survive.

Sometimes I really wish I could look into the future. Maybe I could then figure out where to go with things. But I guess all I can do is my paint my best artwork possible and hope enough people (who are surviving the recession) will like the paintings, too.

Changes, Continued

Life this year has been so-o-o different from the life of the previous ten years. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided not to continue as a professional artist; at least, not until I see a good reason to try it again.

So far this year, I've made almost no art. Instead, I'm spending a LOT of time teaching at the local community college: microbiology, zoology and a lab for a biology class intended for non-science majors.

Before, my days, nights, weekends and holidays were all about making and selling art...and that was it. Now, my days, nights, weekends and holidays are all about teaching and preparing to teach...and that's it. Next week is Spring Break, but it'll be no vacation for me. I've got lab books to grade and more lectures to prepare for.

I'm not complaining...well, not really, I guess. I'm certainly making more $$$ than I ever made from art.

But I'll have to admit: I'm looking forward to late May, when classes will be finished, the grades will be turned in, and I can collapse and sleep all summer. I know I'll miss my students: it's hard not to get at least a little emotionally attached.

But I'll be more prepared to teach those classes again in the future should the college want me to, and this summer I plan to make revisions and changes so the classes will be closer to what I want them to be.

And I expect to do more painting again. And (dare I push my luck?) pursue my other hobby/passion: model railroading.

The light is at the end of the tunnel. I've needed a break for a long time, and I'm totally expecting the break to come in late May.

I'm ready.

Beginning the New Year

So far: I have a commission to finish, a to-be-donated piece to finish, and THREE classes to prepare for so I can begin teaching them in less than two weeks! I mentioned in previous posts I'll be instructing microbiology and zoology -- both lectures and labs for each -- but I was recently asked to teach the lab for a biology class for non-bio majors. Wow -- I'll be busy, and not with art!

Well, maybe I'll be a little busy with art.

I've been working days, nights and weekends for years, and frankly, I'm tired! I know I'll busy with teaching and squeezing in art; yet, I know I MUST find time for myself -- just to relax, play, do things that are not so much like work. I can't keep up this pace for the rest of my life -- or my life isn't going to last as long as it should.

So -- I'm trying to pace myself and realize I just can't do it all. I'll have to sacrifice some of those responsibilities so that I can be better at the things I WILL be doing.

And you know, after all these years -- that's easier said than done...

All Done!

Phew! My P/T teaching gig is over. There was a lot about it that I enjoyed, but it was a LOT of work preparing for lectures and labs.

I really liked the students, too. One of them told me early on that I'll be teaching a really nice group of people, and she was right. The vast majority of them are aspiring to be nurses, and people who want to enter "helping" professions like that tend to be nice, caring and all that.

On the other hand, there was also a small group that... well, I'm just not sure about them. I don't know if they had access to exams from previous semesters to "study" from. For that matter, the copy-center person printed out copies of the lecture and lab finals, but they disappeared before I could get them. I have no proof, but one instructor and I theorized a student, who shouldn't have a key to the copy center, may have "piggy-backed" behind an instructor, gotten into the copy center and took the exams. As I mentioned, I can't prove that. But it's scary to think students who are pursuing careers in the health-care fields might stoop to stunts like that. If true, it's just a matter of time before cheating habits derail their plans -- and their careers.

Anyway, I've been working days, nights and weekends to get ready to teach. I plan on revising all of the material before I teach again -- whenever that is. But for now, grades and attendance reports have been submitted, and now I'm ready for some serious R&R.

Doing nothing sounds pretty good right now!

More Changes

I'm changing my status as a full-time artist to a part-time artist.

Because I'm now a part-time microbiology instructor at the local community college.

I have done some teaching in years past, and I have a Masters (and a Bachelor) degree in microbiology. But I've been away from the field for quite a while, and I've never even attended this college, let alone taught there.

So I've got a lot to catch up on, both regarding the subject and what the college wants me to do in class and in knowing how things work there. My painting will slow down for a while until I'm up to speed as a teacher.

But overall, I think this will be a good thing, as overwhelming as it feels right now. I'll be freed from the need to crank out paintings in the hopes they'll sell. Instead, I can take my time on artwork and make them irresistably beautiful. Sometimes, art suffers when one does it for a living and is still trying to emerge from the masses of artists out there.

I'll lose some painting time, but the paintings that result will be better. It'll be worth it in the end!