Teaching others, teaching myself

I'm presently tutoring a literacy student. She is a Taiwanese woman and has a good grasp of English (she's been in this country about 30 years, but always surrounded by other non-speakers). What I'm finding is just how much I enjoy being a teacher-I've taught in the past, but never with the same sort of feelings that I'm coming upon now-this experience is sooo different than the teachng of art (obviously, the rules are set in stone for the most part) and gains can be measured.

Although there is plenty to teach in the way of vocabulary and grammar, we are working hard on pronunciation, as this has been a problem for her. I have to be aware of each and every word I pronounce and stay away from slang entirely-this is easy for our 1 1/2 hour sessions together-as a matter of fact, I feel as if the whole thing is helping yours truly to think more clearly, more concisely. I don't indulge myself in as much fuzzy thinking as I did only three months ago and my writing has improved (at least in my opinion).

I still feel the forces of change at work in my art-this is a positive thing. Although I know the changes are less volcanic and dramatic than I'd like to sometimes see, they are changes nonetheless...Although I think about painting all the time, I've done little of it. I feel as though my sculpture has gotten a bit further away from anything too literal -the theme pursued is the idea that mystery is what keeps me (and my audience) intrigued, much like all the work I recently did in writing a short horror story. Although I am averse to the cheesy sideshow tent idea of "keep 'em guessing" or that kind of showmanship/salesmanship, there are elements of the boardwalk hawker that feel at home in the work...or is it the alchemist in a modern setting?

"You see these discards in front of you-now WATCH! I'll wave this here wand and throw this here cape over them and VIOLA! Now you see these rusty elements reassembled-you would have thrown them out, but I...I have brought them back to life..." and so on.

As Kurt said..."so it goes..."

This sculpture is called "Soldier of God". The body is made from the base of an old porch column that Steve gave me.