Personal Narrative: Mr. Palmer

In my twelve years of school, I have had many teachers who left their mark on me. The teacher that has inspired me the most, however, is my eleventh grade art teacher, Mr. Palmer. Art became a hobby of mine over the fall break of my sophomore year; starting with learning to draw cartoons from reference pictures, I worked my way up to being able to freehand my favorite characters without looking at a picture. Many times, I tried to draw in different styles and mediums, but not until I took Mr. Palmer’s class did I truly experience the enormous art world. Mr. Palmer taught me about new artists, trying new styles, and never giving up. The first concept that art class exposed me to that was new to me was the history of art and the lives and style …show more content…
Until then, I had been very conservative in my stylistic choices, sticking almost entirely to what I already knew. In Mr. Palmer’s class, however, art projects in a multitude of new styles suddenly became mandatory, and I was soon elbow-deep in acrylics, pastels, colored pencils, watercolors, and graphite. I discovered a special love for watercolors and colored pencils, which prompted me to purchase my own supplies and experiment independently. I soon began to see progress, and even put my abilities to use selling handmade Christmas cards. I realized how important it is to take chances in order to find my own style. Finally, Mr. Palmer’s class taught me to never give up. Though many of the projects I began were left uncompleted because of the lack of adequate class time for a professional-grade product, I learned that if I truly wanted to pursue great prestige as an artist, I needed to take the time to refine my abilities. It became achingly clear in the results of projects that were a completion grade and not just designed to give the class experience that an artist cannot rush. I found that patience is a virtue that cannot be discounted by the aspiring