My week as a student at JC Campbell

Last week I went to J. C. Campbell Folk School as a student. I teach there about twice a year and always enjoy my students. I've been back as a student a few times but this past week was exceptionally good.

I took a drawing class from Pebbie Mott. I haven't drawn more than a sketch here and there for the past twenty years so it was good to get back to drawing.

Pebbie, started us out using graphite pencils and having us experiment with the different hardness of the lead. She also introduced us to a smudge stick, something I had never used but really liked. We also used a sketch and wash pencil, it is used very much like water color.

We used charcoal, not my favorite. Bamboo pen and ink, which I really liked. The pen and ink was very freeing to someone who likes to control what they are doing.

We started the class with traditional sketches using shapes and moved to the outside. I had never taken a sketch pad outside and just sat and sketched. I loved it. I had a very funny experience the first morning we went out to sketch. I decided that I wanted to find a big tree and sketch the bottom of the tree where the roots entered the soil. The studio has two small houses beside it that have some beautiful big trees. I decided that I would sit in the shade under what I found out was a Mulberry tree.

I'm a country girl at heart and love to take my shoes off which I did as I sat sketching. All of a sudden I noticed that I had a few drops of red on my paper. I decided that I didn't mind having a little Mulberry juice on my drawing, it would make it more authentic. I'm deep in thought as I am sketching and all of a sudden, splat! a berry must has dropped from 50ft. high onto my paper. The sound not only scared me but two of my fellow students. Back to my shoe's being off, I got ready to go and for some reason looked at my feet before I put my shoes back on. It took me two days to get the stain off my feet.

My husband was a student last week as well, he took a wood turning class. We both decided that the week was one of the best we had spent in a long time. We met so many people that we clicked with, our teachers were great, the food is always good and to end the week there was a bluegrass concert right outside the log house we were staying in. Can't beat that.

One class that I don't have photos of was the American Indian Flute class. I am so into American Indian flue music and was very intrigued by this class. Billy Whitewolf assured me that you do not need to know music to learn to play this flute. I am really considering taking that class the next time it is offered.

All this may explain my absents on the blog for the last week. I had hoped to get this post earlier but life has gotten in the way. I highly recommend John C. Campbell Folk School.