Oh how I love to do workshops! I meet so many interesting and enthusiastic people loving art and different art techniques. I love the sharing and connections everyone makes.

Recently I invited a few artist friends over who wanted to learn how to apply gold leaf into artwork. I was looking forward to working with them. Yet I discovered a dynamic that was different from other workshops. In doing these I get a lot of questions, interactions and discussions occurring around my demonstrations.

There was one woman and the rest men in this group. It was so silent, I began to feel nervous. Wow! That was something I didn’t expect! I had to laugh at the situation. My only female artist made a comment that went into answering a question she had for clarification and assurance of the process. During this, one male artist even turned his back, did some more work on his art piece while glancing back over his shoulder so as not to seem too rude. At first it would seem it was just the difference between males and females, but I began to realize it was the artists attending. All the men were accomplished artists. The woman had very little experience painting, let alone, being introduced to gold leaf into an art piece.

Also, the male artists really wanted to get moving along with their art pieces…they knew what they wanted to do. The woman, new to the processes and creatives around her, held her own, one to be admired for her determination to create something different than what she has done before. Altogether, it was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed the varied approaches each applied to their individual pieces and the camaraderie that emerged in the few hours invested in the workshop.

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