Ah... new students!

Yesterday, I was getting ready to leave for my class, a Zentangle 101 class and my daughter said "Have a great class Mom as I was putting things in my bag"
I smiled and said, "They're brand new! It's a 101 class! NEWBIES!!!" and was thinking about how much I love putting the pens and tiles in the hands of beginners. I love the way they light up. It makes me so happy to share this with them and all of a sudden my daughter says, "Have fun changing people's lives tonight!"
It was a little corny, and it was a little silly but it made me tear up a bit too.... because sometimes it really does change people's lives.
I took an informal survey in one of the Zentangle groups I am an admin for, asking "how has Zentangle® changed your life?" and I ended up with 8 solid pages of stories. Hundreds of people shared with me how they never felt artistic before, or how it helped them to cope with loss or pain and illness.
This is something REALLY special
So last night, I had 5 students in my class. I'm going to share with you a couple things I heard that I've heard in some variation before that really hit me last night.
"I've never shaded before"
"Oh! I like it!"
"I DREW that!"
"Shading like this doesn't stress me out"
"This was so much fun!"
"I can see myself doing this next time I <fill in the blank>."

And that is why I adore brand new classes. It's fun and exciting to teach the more varied Zentangle inspired art classes, that feeds other pieces of me... but the pen in hand of a new student is a special moment.

Here are mosaics of their beautiful work! Aren't they gorgeous?

As always people liked different patterns, felt they were better at some than others, but that's ok! That's part of what makes taking a class so much fun!

Today I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'll figure it out in a little while, but right now, I'm just kind of wishing I could teach a group of new people every day!