Girish, apart from being a very talented artist, also has an innate gift to work with young children. Our daughter,
who has been with him for close to a year, always feels excited to attend his class, mainly because of the
connections he makes with them and encouragement and positive reinforcement they get during class. He is very
keen to details and picks up subtle cues from the kids and helps them if they get stuck and does not hesitate to
give candid feedback to them when needed, even as we transitioned to online learning. It is a rare quality that I
don't see that often from other instructors and refreshing to see. Girish does not need to do what he does, but
only does it because of this passion for art and the joy he gets from sharing his knowledge and seeing kids grow
their artistic talent.
As a child, I never thought about art as something that I could do. The idea of drawing as
a class or hobby was not something that I experienced until later in my life, in 3rd or 4th grade.
But I lacked the patience and basics needed to replicate the pieces I did in class. I soon
dropped out of that class and was only reintroduced to an art class when I was in 8th grade, in
Girish Uncle’s class. This time, the stakes were different: without a large amount of experience
in art, I had to work alongside friends who had been partaking in the skill for quite some time. As we started with
pencils, the only thing I could think about was to calm down my nerves.
Eventually, the nervousness changed to mild worry, to irritability at a mistake, and finally to a
sort of confidence. From then on, I have learned pencil sketching, pastel pictures, portraits (to
an extent), and oil painting, all thanks to Girish Uncle’s guidance.