Answering your questions about “The making of a great painting”

Since I have announced my new program, “The Making of a Great Painting: Learning how to Learn from Masters”, I’ve received a number of questions from people interested in the program, but still uncertain whether it would work for them. These questions fall into three groups:

Will the program be appropriate for my skill level?

To begin with, studying masters is an age-old way of learning. Even if you have never painted before, this is a good (maybe even the best) starting point (and if you pre-register for the program now, I will be able to help you with the list of materials you will need).

The details of the process will vary depending on your current level, but since it’s a pilot program, it relies heavily on one-on-one communication, and this allows for an infinite variety in participants’ levels of skills and mastery. You don’t have to worry that you will know less than other participants: I will meet you exactly where you are.

By the same token, it means you don’t have to worry that the program will be not advanced enough for you either: when all is said and done, you will be learning from a masterpiece of your choice. So it’s up to you to make the process challenging and transformational enough. The program is just there to create a space where you can discuss the difficulties and challenges that arise in the process, get feedback whenever you need it, “compare notes”…

And finally, this program might be a good fit for you even if you have no intention of learning how to paint, because it will give you a completely new way to look at a painting, to connect with it at the deepest level.

What does it mean, “pilot program”? Wouldn’t it be better for me to wait till you offer the “final” one?

This is a “pilot program” because it is the first time for me, and I will be learning how to do it best in the process. For you, it means that you will be co-creating the program: it will be shaped as we go by your questions, concerns, challenges, desires. My intention is to leave no single question or problem arising in the course of the program unaddressed: obviously, I cannot promise that I have answers to all possible questions, but we will talk about every question even if I don’t have the answer, and so help one another to live the question, as Rainer Maria Rilke put it. It’s through living the questions that we really learn.

This also means that this version of the program will involve much more one-on-one communication and feedback than any future version that may eventually grow from it. In particular, I am not sure I will ever again offer the program in this form, letting every participant choose the masterpiece to study.

What about the fee? I am not sure I can afford it…

The program is offered with the newly emerging framework of “gift economy”, also known as “generosity-based economy”. This means you don’t have to pay anything to enroll in the program.

Later on, however, you will have the option to donate towards the further development of this and similar art-education programs (using a secure payment system). By that time, you will have a better understanding of the program’s worth for you, which can guide your decision about the amount you can give. But if you don’t give anything, that’s absolutely fine, too: a gift is a gift, and it is offered without any expectation of monetary renumeration.

If these answers sound satisfactory, now would be a good time to pre-register for the program, since pre-registration closes on December 14:

And if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments section!