INTO THE LION’S DEN:

Into the Lion’s Den:

How I developed as an artist.

Randilynn N. Mitchell

University of Florida

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I was seven years old and after I finished a beautiful, red flower drawing I

rushed into the kitchen, where my mother was baking a cake, to show it to her. She

glanced up and said “Uh-huh” and then continued working. I was instantly

disappointed that she did not stop to see all the elements of my picture. I sadly

walked back to our living room, put my drawing materials away, and turned on the

television. The people around me easily influenced my development as a child and

later as an artist. While not all of my encounters were positive, there were enough

people in my life that helped me along.

It was the summer of 1989 and I could hear a sizzling sound coming from my

Grandmothers kitchen as my brother and I entered through her front door. We both

looked at each other with excitement hoping that she was cooking her famous

pancakes for the first day of our summer vacation. We were instantly disappointed

once we looked inside the skillet seeing an off-white goop,

that smelled like pancakes. My brother, Travis, quickly went

to the living room and began watching cartoons on her

1970’s television. I, however, remained by her side since I

was desperately curious to see what she was making. I watched her as she added

blue food coloring to the off-white goop. The blue swirled together with the goop as

she quickly stirred it together. My curiosity, getting the best of me, I finally asked

her, “Grandma, what is that?” She replied, “It is homemade play-dough for you and

Travis to play with outside today”. Being a seven, almost eight, year old girl I began

excitedly jumping up and down inside the kitchen because I was going to play with

play-dough. I said, “Grandma, can you make a whole bunch of different colors for

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us?” She sweetly replied, “ I will make you four colors; blue, green, yellow, and red.

Then you can mix them together to make other colors.”

My excitement instantly turned to frustration because I

did not know how to mix colors together. She saw the

frustrated look upon my cute, little face and said, “Not to

worry sweetie, just experiment with the colors and if you

make a mistake I will make you more dough.” I was now relieved and my excitement

returned as she continued to cook the remainder of the play-doh. Travis and I took

the warm, salty doh outside, placed it on our wooden play table, and began

experimenting and creating various types of little sculptures. As we played with the

dough, we were constantly talking to one another about our creations. “Hey Trav,

look at my flower! Isn’t it funny looking?” and he replied with laughter, “That is the

funniest flower ever! Check out the car I made”. My brother and I often found

ourselves talking and sharing ideas as we created art together.

Play-dough was not the only artistic materials we had

at my Grandmothers house. She often had Lite Brites,

Tupperware Snapics, coloring books, and crayons for Travis

and I to play with and develop artistically. One

afternoon while my brother and I sat at her round table coloring in an

old, faded coloring book I paused to ask my Grandmother if she would

like to color too. She immediately stopped cleaning her kitchen and sat

down beside me and began to color. I was very excited that she

instantly stopped what she was doing to join us. As she was coloring, I

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suddenly became so entranced by how she outlined the picture and layered her

crayons that I lost interest in my own picture. I said, “Can you show me how you

color so good?” She says “sure” and began to show me her process of outline and

layering. She told me that it is important to layer the crayons because it will make

the texture of the picture look and feel softer. My Grandmothers talent was not

limited to crayons; she also knew how to draw faces. Once she saw that I had an

interest in learning how to draw, she began showing me her techniques for drawing

faces and coloring them. All summer she would often join my brother and I in our

active play while we created different types of art pieces. As we finished our art

pieces, she would give us great praises and attention. She hung the pictures up on

her refrigerator until they fell apart. Then as the summer came to an end, I felt a

little sad because I wanted to stay with my Grandmother and color.

After such a wonderful artistic summer with my Grandmother it was difficult

to return to my school art class and create school art. I enjoyed my summer of free

artistic experimentation and development so much that returning to my restrictive,

art class made me feel very sad. I was sitting in a new class and my teacher, Mrs.

McGuire told our class that because we could not color like she did with markers

then they were not allowed in her classroom. I was hurt that I could not use markers

just because I could not color like her. This moment turned me off to school art

almost entirely and from that point on I really only went through the motions in art

class just so I could pass. I tried to get back into art four years after Mrs. McGuire’s

rant on markers. However the atmosphere of the art class just hindered me further.

A girl, Christina would say, “My picture is better than yours! Hey guys, look how bad

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Nicole’s drawing is”. Then the class would proceed to laugh at my pictures. My

teacher did nothing to stop the students from picking at me. It was this very long

nine week class in seventh grade that caused me to not step foot inside an art class

until I was twenty-five and in college.

A woman named Barbara Tuner encouraged me to get an art degree at

Williams Baptist College. Approaching her office one summer afternoon, I saw a

painting behind her desk. The painting looked like a Georgia O’Keefe art piece. As I

sat down I asked, “Who painted that flower?” She replied, “an art students on

campus.” I was a little confused because I did not realize this small Christian college

had an art program. I said to her, “ I really like to draw!” and she replied, “then you

should get a studio art degree.” I told her that I did not think I was a very talented

because I did not take high school art. She says, “Not to worry, the professors here

can help you develop your artistic voice, even if you are new to art.” I became

excited and signed up for a studio art degree.

The first studio classes that I signed up for were in the fall of 2006; Drawing I

and Design I. I was so frightened as I entered the drawing room that I almost bolted

for the hallway. Luckily, my professor, Dr. David Midkiff entered the classroom

before I had time to jump ship. As he went over our syllabus and supply list, my

already panicked nerves only got worse. I had no idea what most of the supplies

where. “What the heck is charcoal?” I told myself. I knew right then I was in over my

head.

A few days later he was demonstrating to the class how to draw with

permanent markers. I was severally alarmed since I love to use erasers. When we

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asked him why we could not use pencils he replied with, “the first thing you need to

learn to do is be committed to a line

before you draw it. This means

observing carefully and paying close

attention to your drawing”. When I first

attempted to draw with the markers I

messed up and got frustrated. As left the

class that day, I was so discouraged that

I wanted to quit. My husband told me,

“You are a good artist. You just need to keep practicing”. I was so happy that he

thought I was a good artist. I smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and went back to the

studio and began practicing. After many, many, many hours of practice I finally was

able to become committed to my lines and learn how to draw without an eraser. It

was over Thanksgiving break that I created the piece titled “Harrison Road”. Once I

returned to class after our break, it was time for our class critique. Nervously

standing in front of my classmates I explained my artwork. While this was not my

first critique I worried how everyone would react to my art piece since this was the

first time I chose my subject matter. I was telling myself, “What do I do if they don’t

like it?” My classmates were gentle during the critique; “the shadows under the

trees are great; nice job”, “maybe more texture on the trees next time”, and “the

picture draws you inward”. A since of relief passed over my face as I walked slowly

back to my seat. After this critique I still did not realize how much other people

were influencing me artistically. Therefore, I continued blindly with my degree.

Harrison Road: Ink on Paper; Fall 2006

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The next year, I signed up for a painting class with Mrs. Gima Mickey. She did

not provide any type of instruction as we set up our easels outdoors on a cool

September morning. Once everyone was settled she said, “Choose one color of oil

paint. Then with that one color and mineral spirits I want you create a landscape

scene”. I thought, “What! I have never painted before and she is just going to toss me

into the lion’s den and leave me?” While I begin choosing my

color, she was walking over to each student and explaining some

basic techniques to painting. When she came over to me, she

explained the techniques, and said, “You can always draw on the

canvas first if you are apprehensive about using the paint”.

“Thank you,” I said since I actually was apprehensive. So I took

out my pencil and drew my picture. Several of my classmates

immediately started painting. I felt sad because I thought I was

somehow artistically retarded since I

did not have a good art background.

Once my painting was finished, our class critiqued the

completed works, and as we did this, I began to realize

that even though I did not take high school art, my

artwork was not too different from my classmates. I told

myself, “Hmm, maybe I did not miss anything by not

taking high school art. Did I develop some on my own?”

I had several professors at Williams, inside and

outside the art program that encouraged me to continue to develop, experiment,

Going Green: Oil on Canvas; Fall 2007

Phantom of the Little Killer; Oil on Canvas; Fall 2007

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and push myself artistically. However, the culture of a Christian school can

sometimes limit the subject matter artists can produce for an art show. I was quite

frustrated about the limitations my school culture put on me. Although, I tried my

best to shake things up a bit with pieces like, the “Adam and Eve Barbie Set” and

“Phantom of the Little Killer”. However, I did not succeed in changing anyone’s

mind. So sadly, I resolved into doing nature for my senior exhibition. It was at this

time I began to understand how people influenced my art.

While others still have an influence on my art today, I am trying to break free

from that confinement by experimenting with new techniques

and ideas, including creating art pieces on my Ipad. However, I

still remember the artistic guidelines, influences, and

developments that I learned from my school. I recall such things

as; be committed to your line, use the whole paper, feel free to

experiment, express yourself artistically, and artwork must work

cohesively. I still have trouble creating art because I feel

artistically hindered since I gave up on art earlier in life. While

my artistic development was mostly based on the persuasion of

others, I was also able to progress some naturally. It was later in

life that several individuals taught me techniques, ideas, and theories that helped me

develop further.

Night Owl: Painted on Ipad via ArtRage; Spring 2012

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References

Arike, A. (2001). What Are Humans For? Art in the Age of Post-Human Development.

Leonardo, 34(5), 447-451.

Bruner, J. (2004). A Short History of Psychological Theories of Learning. American

Academy of Arts & Sciences, 13-20.

Efland, A. (1976). The school art style: a functional analysis. Art Education, 17(2),

37-44. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from Jstor.

Freeman, K. (2011, March). Leadership in art education: taking action in schools and

communities. Art Education, 64(2), 40-45. Jstor.

Ivashkevich, O. (2006). Drawing in Children's Lives. J. Fineberg (Ed.), When we were

young: Perspectives on the art of the child, 45-49.

Mithen, S. (2001). The Evolution of Imagination: An Archaeological Perspecitve.

SubStance, 30(1/2), 28-54.

Thompson, C., & Bales, S. (1991). Michael doesn't like my dinosaurs: conversations

in a preschool art class. Studies in Art Education, 33(1), 43-55. Retrieved

2012, from Jstor.

Vygotsky, L. (1929). The problem of the cultural development of the child. In The

Vygotsky Project. http://webpages.charter.net/schmolze1/vygotsky/

Wilson, B., & Wilson, M. (1981, September). The use and uselessness of

developmental stages. Art Education, 34(5), 4-5. Jstor.

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