Student Stories : Elsa Worth
About this new blog series:
To become a teacher of anything, you have to have people who want to learn from you. To have people who want to learn from you, in our humble opinion, is a privilege. My grandmother Lu was a beloved educator, and occasionally we hear from one of her past students. Those stories are wind in the sails! Encouraging, as they are exciting. For me, it’s extra special to connect with someone who knew her before I was even born.
I wish I could read more of my grandmother’s student’s stories, and this is the inspiration for creating a place to share our Trailbound Sketches Student Stories. My son Kip is only a year old (at the time of this posting) and maybe he might find joy in reading these personal experiences of the people who wanted to learn from his dad.
Featuring the artwork of Trailbound Sketches student Elsa Worth!
With no further ado, it’s my please to share with the virtual world Elsa Worth who calls The Granite State of New Hampshire home. She is an active Trailbound Sketches participant, having signed-up for ALL of our tutorials, which is amazing! Her story stood out when she started sharing pages of her sketchbook while working on the 99 Sketches Series. We found her approach really fun to witness. She’s been making the 99 Sketches Series her own, while also allowing it to inspire exploration and play outside the scope of each individual tutorial.
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth): She was one of the first students who chose to use my reference sketch as a “prompt” and, for example, replaced the mountain scene with one of her local peaks, Mount Monadnock, New Hampshire. This is something I don’t say enough and would like to always encourage! Maybe my reference sketch helps you past the first scary mark on the blank page, which is what it’s there for. Then, as you gain confidence, revisit and replace the sketch with something of your own choosing. Witnessing Elsa do this was a moment that brought me and the entire Trailbound Team so much joy to witness!
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth): It was very exciting to see Elsa’s curiosity inspire her to create MORE fox sketches. Playing with posture and even the season. You can see how she experimented with wet-on-wet and glazing techniques.
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth): What else is really noteworthy 🤗 about these sketches is how Elsa chose to be “stick it out” when she wasn’t quite happy with her initial result. It can be easy to be hard on ourselves. When in actuality a willingness to try again, applying the lessons from attempt #1 to explore a touch more, is all apart of the adventure of becoming an artist!
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth): We also hope to encourage a playfulness and wish to create what you want to see, too. Elsa demonstrates this in her sketchbook page layouts (above). This is not how I demonstrate the sketch in my tutorial, and it brought me so much JOY to see Elsa create the sketches how she wanted to see them!
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth)
Pictured (art by Elsa Worth)
I am so grateful for your teaching and encouragement. I started painting during the pandemic, and it has been so helpful for me to learn your bold way of using paint. It has affected my work in a great way and following your videos is just plain fun!
I'm grateful for the help you’ve given me to prepare for my outdoor and urban sketches in Southwest France and Stockholm.
~ Elsa Worth
