In the last 2 months, I have been networking and working hard to find new avenues for my teachings, classes, and workshops. While doing this I have learned a lot about the whole art teaching workshop/class circuit, zoom classes, video online classes, and the live workshop circuit. I have been teaching since 1983 and a lot of what I discovered I already knew, but there was one thing that put a bad taste into my mouth and I decided I would bring it up in this week's newsletter.

What I heard was that I shouldn't do my YouTube video class paint-a-longs for free because when something is free the perception would be that it probably isn't a high-quality class or it could give the impression that the teacher is just starting out with their teaching career. Many free videos also tend to try and sell you something or don't teach everything and hold back those teachings so you have to purchase a paid class video. 

There is also a saying "You get what you pay for" and yes most of the time in the business selling products world that is true. I on the other hand am going to be a bad businessman and keep on teaching and demonstrating for FREE!

I love teaching and I have been doing it since 1983 when my mentor Irving Shapiro told me to go out and get an art job, and while I do that job I could substitute for his watercolor class when he was away on his workshops. Then Mr. Shapiro got sick and he gave me his evening class at the American Academy of Art, which was one of the biggest honors I had ever received. Then Robert Wade from Australia who was also a great mentor to me, gave me all his US workshops when he decided he could no longer come back to the US to teach. I was so thankful to these mentors to give me these kinds of opportunities as they took me under their wings and did this all for free. This is just one of the many reasons that made me decide long ago that I didn't want to teach to make a living. I wanted instead to mentor my students to become the best painters they can be and that would be my payment. I wanted to pay it forward as my mentors had done for me. Back then I also got the web address www.paintitforward.com. that's a whole other story.

If I were a billionaire I would still teach and I would do it totally for free. I am not a billionaire and not even a millionaire but luckily I have a great art job where I work for a couple of wonderful reps that get me a ton of work creating art for very nice prices and that's how I make my living and lets me do what I want when it comes to my teaching career.

The reason I am bringing this up in this week's newsletter is that I want to make sure you realize that I am teaching you the highest quality classes and workshops even though they are free for you to watch and learn. I also bring it up because I want you to start spreading the word about my free YouTube paint-a-longs and how much you can learn from them if you have learned from my videos. Also spread the word about how you can join my BeckerArt group on Facebook and can ask questions and get advice for free about anything related to your art work. 

I have also been told by a few large art organizations and companies recently that I am not popular enough as an artist to teach for them, to which I say "OH WELL" there are plenty of places I can teach and I will let my students do all my publicity by word of mouth which really helps and goes a long way in making me a so-called popular artist, which by the way isn't the best way to tell if an artist is a good teacher. Please spread the word if you think I'm a good art teacher and have helped you with your artwork.

Thank you to so many of you that have already put the word out for me... I will keep on doing the paint-a-longs and demos and they will always be free on YouTube and I plan on doing some free zoom classes in the future. 

I know I'm not the best businessman but I have proven to myself and many of my students that I can teach the heck out of art class.
ENJOY and learn as much as you can! 
David