Sarah,
What a delightful surprise to visit your webpage! I will definitely put it in my favorite art websites to visit!
You gave me a greater insight to what you like, and your level of work. As your current instructor there is always a gap of what the teacher sees you do in the classroom and what you have already done. It is also helpful to learn what you like to do. I too, love doing portraits, as you can see with the lady who sits in front of you in class!
I also know you have a great watercolor set, and having the right tools make all the difference. I will have to get you to use better watercolor paper, that does make a difference!
Yes, you are a little shy, but you are very friendly. You are in a good class right now, with people who are willing to share their knowledge, and make constructive comments and suggestions and be open to talk art to you.
A wonderful book that will help you immensely is "Drawing on the right side of the brain". I have taught it to thousands, including some of the people in the class you're in. I'd suggest you either get the book, or get it out of the library, and I'll be more than happy to help you with what you don't understand.
I will also go through my file cabinet and pull out items you might like to draw like dragons and fantasy art.
Look forward to seeing you in class!
Keep being creative, practice does make perfect.
Also, I think an abstract will be a very good thing to try, see, you are very fortunate to sit next to the lady who does all those abstracts, and she is VERY good...you will learn from all of that!
I'm very excited for you, that you are in the right place at the right time of your art endeavors!
Kathleen

Sarah Lee Williamson replies:
"Thanks for taking the time to look at my gallery, Kathleen. I do love fantasy. I am thinking about what I want to draw next. I need to finish my fairy in watercolor. I finished my Easter picture with the Victorian bunnies and I colored it with colored pencils. I will show it to you on Monday. I love Easter and spring. Have you looked at my Spring Fairy picture? I would like to do a watercolor version of it. I found some pretty pictures of flowers in magazines, and some Thomas Kinkade ads in my Mom's magazines. I have a poster with pictures of mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns that I got from a children's magazine. I would like to draw a picture of a unicorn. "