Shopping for a workshop? You have to read this first:
I have been approached to create online workshops under the umbrella of a larger company. This has happened to me before…
We were approached to write a book about one of our online workshops back in 2010. We happily signed our contract and then were instructed to severely edit and mold our content into what cookie-cutter formula the publisher had that would sell the most books. All of my hopes and dreams for that book were shattered.. We ended up with a great book…but it wasn’t me or my dream.
So- you’ve been shopping for workshops and you hit an artist you like and you click through to the workshop details and you have to scroll for half an hour and jump through hoops to see how much it costs? The workshop listing looks familiar to others you have seen… OR the workshop is $37? All of these workshops are created around making money. $37 is a magic price… the scrolling is a marketing ploy..to get ya.
I’m not doing any of this. I refuse to conform. I refuse to join forces. I am not changing..why? Because I honestly want to help you paint like I do and I don’t care how long it takes. I’m sticking around to foster a community and relationship with each of my students. It is more fulfilling. I host, film, write and edit everything myself.
Here are the details on my workshops:
Video footage is filmed in HD and it is edited to remove repetitive content, mundane tasks, etc. If I say you get 5 hours of content, you are getting 5 hours of teaching.
Once you are in a workshop, you are in forever. Grab the workshop on sale, paint when you are ready. Paint the workshop once…come back and paint it again. The workshops are built to teach techniques and practical application of those techniques. It takes practice to get everything under your belt. You should expect that.
I am here for you. We have a group in Facebook where I teach. The group has teaching conversation. It is not filled with people talking over each other and a lot of junk. It is probably 90% question and answer. You post your question- I answer. In concise teaching detail. Sometimes with diagrams.. I enjoy a back and forth conversation with each student so that I can understand you and you can understand me. There are options we can discuss..it’s not a one size fits all conversation- ever.
The techniques I use in all of my paintings are taught in the workshops. Every student is going to have a different hand in putting them together, and It is my pleasure to help you identify your own hand! My life’s work, actually.
I teach tangible content. Like you would receive in a classroom. With multiple camera angles, so you can seem face when I am speaking. It sounds weird, but that is important. You wouldn’t take a course in a classroom with the teacher only showing their hands, would you?
Some of my students have been working with me since 2009- that’s when I started teaching online. Some of them pick up a workshop, paint through it and come back a couple years later to paint again. THAT, my friends, is VALUE. (Did I tell you I worked 20 years in retail? That’s where my obsession from value comes from. 😉)
So, if you’re smart, you can parlay one workshop purchase with me for a really long time! Each time I film a workshop, the content improves based on the feedback from the prior workshop.
Best wishes for a creative and happy 2023! Thank you for stopping by today.
Julie Prichard, San Diego Abstract Artist and Instructor- Since 2009.