cindy crimmin
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PSST: Cindy, would you tell us a little about yourself, your background and love of teaching?
CC: Some people are painters who teach. Many teachers follow the path to painting once they retire. I think of myself as both a teacher who paints and a painter who teaches. Painting and teaching are both my loves! I feel as if I was waiting to paint all my life. While I was waiting, I followed my other passion and taught for nearly 40 years. Now my two loves continue side by side, each enhancing the other.
As a teacher, I learned that when we talk about our thinking, our thoughts become clearer. Painting makes me more aware of the visual world and more eager to capture the small things that others might miss- the parts that hold the unexpected beauty. Teaching painting makes me think about my own process. In articulating that process to students, I find myself both clearer in my own thinking and more in control of that process. And around it goes.
The other thing I know about myself is that I am a cross between an introvert and an extrovert: I love the solitude of “getting into” my paintings and I delight in dancing alone to Nora Jones as I paint in my home studio. I also love painting with friends. The fact that they are also introverts means that we can paint in companionable silence for hours without noticing the passage of time, often beginning with coffee and ending with wine- What could be better! As an extra bonus, we are there to critique one another. If you paint long enough on a single piece, it is easy to become blind to any inconsistencies. I need both the alone and the together to paint well. View Cindy's website and her 2017 PSST interview.
CC: Some people are painters who teach. Many teachers follow the path to painting once they retire. I think of myself as both a teacher who paints and a painter who teaches. Painting and teaching are both my loves! I feel as if I was waiting to paint all my life. While I was waiting, I followed my other passion and taught for nearly 40 years. Now my two loves continue side by side, each enhancing the other.
As a teacher, I learned that when we talk about our thinking, our thoughts become clearer. Painting makes me more aware of the visual world and more eager to capture the small things that others might miss- the parts that hold the unexpected beauty. Teaching painting makes me think about my own process. In articulating that process to students, I find myself both clearer in my own thinking and more in control of that process. And around it goes.
The other thing I know about myself is that I am a cross between an introvert and an extrovert: I love the solitude of “getting into” my paintings and I delight in dancing alone to Nora Jones as I paint in my home studio. I also love painting with friends. The fact that they are also introverts means that we can paint in companionable silence for hours without noticing the passage of time, often beginning with coffee and ending with wine- What could be better! As an extra bonus, we are there to critique one another. If you paint long enough on a single piece, it is easy to become blind to any inconsistencies. I need both the alone and the together to paint well. View Cindy's website and her 2017 PSST interview.
I do believe that I was always meant to live my life as I do now. If I could go back and do it again, I would not wait all the years I did to paint full time. This is truly where the sparkle is.
Painting by Cindy Crimmin
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Painting by Cindy Crimmin
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Painting by Cindy Crimmin
Painting by Cindy Crimmin