What is the most memorable event in your art journey?

What is the most memorable event in your art journey? I"m not sure that there is one event that can be pinpointed. One event that stands out somewhat does not revolve around me but a student of mine. I taught a painting lesson on atmospheric perspective. The majority of students were having trouble understanding however there was one who executed the process to the standard. I demonstrated the technique and had students practice the technique with me and then individually in their sketchbooks. Once practice was satisfactory, the students were instructed to create an atmospheric landscape painting in the color scheme of their choosing. This student chose a color scheme different from her classmates. She ignored the red, greens, blues, or yellows and chose to mix colors to create completely new color values and applied them to her land scape. I entered her painting into our district art show. The number of entries exceeded 400. This was a testament to the student's creativity and willingness to experiment. The experiment resulted in a small but eye catching work of art. The most rewarding aspect of this is this student receiving the highest award possible for the show. It was a shocking surprise as I had never had a student win the highest award in all the years of teaching art. The district coordinator was happy at the result and made the decision for the award. If only I was as brave as this student and took more chances in my own work. There were times I wish I were not as controlled and tight in my work. The artist whose I admire has a degree of control but is filled with a fresh excitement. Frank Miller, Humberto Ramos, Alex Ross, Bill Buchman all incorporate a level of looseness and perspective. One day I hope to reach that level and maybe win an art