On Monday I taught my monthly class at a senior center. These wonderful ladies are all complete beginners, and they rely on me to guide them through a painting each month. Last month they pressured me to plan a class about Dutch windmills. OY! I tried to be honest, that this was not easy subject matter, but they persisted—tulips and windmills it would be!

windmills jonell frustratedLet me say that our Dutch landscape proved to be every bit the challenge we thought it would be. Remember my blog about the stages of a painting? We spent a LOT of time in the “adolescent phase” with those windmills, and particularly with the tulips. There were quite a few references to zits and body odor—they were talking about their paintings!

The big lesson in this was TRUST. I had to say over and over, “trust me, when we get to a later step, it will all come together.” There were a lot of sideways glances through narrowed eyes. There was not a lot of belief hanging around our art table.

But then…it all came together. Despite all the angst and insecurity, the women prevailed! They all came through and were quite proud of their paintings.windmills finished jonell

windmills marush

I love when art teaches a life lesson. How often do you go after a goal and then feel that it was a mistake to get started in the first place. Sometimes the chasm that divides where we are and where we want to be is too wide. The steps we need to get to the other side seem impossible or simply don’t make sense.

That’s when you call in the big gun: Trust.

When has Trust gotten you to the other side? Tell me about it!