Why I Teach Messy & Mindful (Especially Right Now)
Let’s just say it: things are stressful right now. Some days I feel like I’m walking on eggshells. That’s exactly why I chose this as the first class of the fall season.
I’ve been teaching mixed media for a long time, and this particular class — paint, torn paper, collage, texture — is the one I come back to when I need it most myself. There’s something about the process that just lets me exhale. I paint a background with no plan. I tear it apart. I let color and paper say what I don’t have the energy to say out loud. No one disagrees with paper and paint. No one needs convincing. It just is, and then it becomes something else.
Your Permission Slip to Speak Your Mind
That’s the part I love handing to a room full of students: permission. Permission to not know what you’re making. Permission to rip up something you just spent twenty minutes painting because it wants to become three other things instead. Permission to follow a structured layout guide, or to throw the guide out entirely and follow your gut. Both are right. There is no wrong in this room.
We paint. We play. We draw. We tear. And then — if by some kind of magic, and it really does feel like magic every single time — it all comes together into a composition none of us saw coming.
Much like life, honestly.
Three Hours of Messy and Mindful
Paint. We start by making our own custom background and texture papers — just color, brushstrokes, and mood. No plan required. This part alone tends to loosen everyone’s shoulders.
Collage. Once the papers are dry, we layer them with magazine snippets, tissue paper, cracked eggshells, and whatever surprising textural odds and ends I’ve pulled from my own studio shelves that week. It becomes a modern abstract composition, piece by piece.
Seal. I’ll teach you a simple, archival-safe gluing and sealing technique so what you make actually lasts — years on canvas, not just an afternoon.
Structure is our Foundation
If you want structure, I bring eight beginner-friendly layout guides — things like the Horizon Line or the Textural Grid — so you’re never staring at a blank page wondering where to start. If you’d rather ignore all of that and just follow instinct, that’s just as welcome. Either way, you walk out with something that’s genuinely yours.
And you don’t need to bring a thing. Canvas board, custom paints, magazines, tissue papers, real cracked eggshells for texture, and my studio’s stash of unexpected materials — it’s all provided.
The Room Itself
This is the part people don’t expect: it’s quiet. Quiet enough to actually think. But it’s also supportive enough that nobody is watching what you make, or judging how it turns out. No design background needed. No drawing skills needed. No “right” outcome to hit. Just whatever wants to come through that day — which, lately, feels like exactly the kind of afternoon we could all use.
Join Me
📍 Whatcom Art Center, 1105 11th St, Bellingham, WA 98225 (paid parking available) 📅 September 19, 2026 · ⏰ 1:30–4:30 PM 💲 $45 (includes all materials) Class size limited to 16 · Ages 13+ Register here
I’d love to have you in the room.