An Old Dog/New Tricks

LaiFUU & LaMei, my beloved furkids whom I brought back to Canada from Taiwan. Hence, the name of my studio is 'Dog Patch Studio.' Dog Patch was also the nickname for the area I now live in, since there were always dogs running around freely. It was fated to be.

I must admit that my greatest procrastination, which has also been to my own detriment, has been learning how to properly build a website. For years, I have sworn that this would be the year that I would create an artist website & store. At least last year, that led me to create a new Instagram site for my art studio, surprisingly called 'Dog Patch Art Studio.' Why has this been my greatest procrastination? I think it might have to do with my fear of 'imposter syndrome' that I have developed over the years as an artist working 98% of my time on my teaching career. Fortunately enough and also very timely, due to this course, I am finally overcoming this fear. As I work away sllooowwwllyyy, I recall that this frustration is what my students often experience. As I search and watch Youtube video after Youtube video, stop, restart, rewind, stop, replay, rewind, replay, and attempt, replay and attempt, undo, undo, undo, replay, attempt, and maybe this time my process will work just like the video says it will. I still have a lot of quirks to work out on this site, but I am starting to feel like I have a strong enough foundation that I could share with my students. I have also been humbled by the slow process of learning new technological skills, especially battling with my difficulty focusing and following instructions. I find the videos help a lot. This is how my students feel. And then the wonderous feeling of seeing the website come to life, the way my students become more confident, excited, and proud of themselves when they finally reach the peak of the mountain they have been climbing. Such a great reminder to encourage and motivate so that our students can also achieve that feeling of accomplishment regardless of all of the inner talk telling them to stop, give u,p and take that 0! The sense of accomplishment of gaining another layer of knowledge and skill to build their temple on. It is the students who keep me inspired and motivated. If they can do it, I can too.