Testimonials

Ellen Eggerding
Adult Art Student, 5 Years

Acrylic

After I retired, I took a decorative painting class at a senior center and really enjoyed painting cute wooden trays and bird houses. This was my first experience ever with painting or drawing and I was pleased to find I had a tiny bit of artistic ability. This awoke in me the desire to paint “real pictures”. I saw an advertisement for painting classes at the ArtHaus Visual Arts Studio and signed up. I began taking classes with Robert Caldwell in January 2011 and nobody is more surprised than I am at what I have been able to accomplish. Robert is an amazing artist but more important to his students, he is an excellent teacher. He shows us the basics such as brush and pencil techniques, the use of different materials and color theory. He explains how to analyze what we are painting and break it down into components so we can see how these pieces relate to each other. All this plus Robert’s calm, nurturing approach in the classroom encourages each individual student to develop at his/her own pace and brings out the best in all of us. In short, if anyone had shown me five or six years ago the level of artwork I would be producing today, I would have said, “When pigs fly!” I keep a small statue of a winged pig in my home studio to remind me how much I have accomplished with Robert’s help.

~Ellen Eggerding​