About

Welcome Message For  Budding Artisans

Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to my repository of tips, techniques and tools, all of it material to help accomplish a project, get enlightened about which tool does what and plenty of ideas and inspiration to take your creativity further.

The products I discuss here at length are those that I personally use on a regular basis so I can vouch for their effectiveness. Whatever “thing” you are interested in, I’ve got you covered!

Why I Started This Site

I started this blog as it combines my biggest two passions in life, art and writing. It’s hard to get a job as an artist. I have sold a few paintings here and there, but I could see selling art on a regular basis would be a tough mountain to climb. Kudos to those who do it, though!

First of all, I focus the most on: Drawing, painting, colored pencil, marker and pen work, clay, and mixed media.

I just took to drawing naturally, I think it kept me out of trouble, for the most part. Here is a picture of me from the family album drawing, I would have been, like 3 years old here:

Boy, those little Snoopy pencils I had really take me back!

I sometimes use tools like Corel Draw to supplement my work, and I use a tablet to aid in that, but sometimes simple drawings, just freehand. It took a while before i could warm up to doing drawing in that way. I have always been very old school.

The thing I get inspired by the most, although it sounds a little cheesy, is nature. I love birds, but I also love and own cats so I just enjoy the wild birds that dwell outdoors since birds and cats are not exactly compatible in the same room together 🙂

Birds, cats and fish have all inspired me to come up with some interesting ideas for projects.

What Qualifies Me to do “Tips, Tools and Tutorials”?

I can remember when we didn’t even have a store in my hometown that sold arts and craft materials – EXCEPT for this one little quaint place (well, quaint by today’s standards), it was a family-run venue called Carol’s. named after the proprietress (is that too old fashioned sounding?) I loved hanging out there and I also took some painting lessons too, she had a room in the back she was willing to rent out.

Carol was always happy to enlighten me about what kind of tools I should be using and why. I used to browse through sticks of “Friendly Plastic” and flat backed rhinestones which I saved up my allowance for, just like a kid in a candy store. Good times! This place went out of business sometime in 1995, I think, and then the chain places like Michaels and Joanns came along, which had nearly anything you would need, but I still miss that old venue, big time.

My Adventures in Art Lessons…

I was also blessed to have been a student of some talented art instructors. I have had lessons in drawing and painting both as well as colored pencils. I had a real jewel of an instructor for the colored pencil class she was also a children’s book author and illustrator too. One time she gifted me with two of her published books – they were centered around Biblical stories.

She taught a class after school (I was in the 5th grade then) and we were also instructed to bring markers as well as colored pencils.Then later on she offered a “correspondence” course in which I would receive lessons by mail. More good times, right?

Th second instructor was a having periodic classes – I was in the second grade when I started my first “real” art class, as I call it. It was all about watercolors and I was getting to use paint in tubes and I was really pumped about getting to use those! He also taught private lessons and so I got further help with my work for awhile.

Afterward he remained a great family friend regardless of whether or not I was taking lessons. I hope someday I will find my first “official” watercolor painting I did way back then -it has held up well and was a landscape I think.

My college art professor has been featured in Artist magazine and was all about photo-realism. Everyone I studied under was all about the style in which you pretty much get married to your subject matter, so I guess I mirrored that, too.

Here I am having a good old time painting birdhouses…this picture was taken in 1997. I’ve always been fond of nature so I have quite a few posts around outdoor yard art, birdhouses and feeders :

Artforms I Have Dabbled In…

I’ve sewn a few times. I am not proficient in it. But then again, haven’t focused on it like I have painting, so that’s just the facts Jack.

Needlepoint. I liked needlepoint when I was in grade school as it didn’t feel intimidating as sewing.

Candles and soap. I wanted to take a break from painting and try something different so I got into both of these for awhile. I fell in love with “gel candles” because you could put things in them and they’d look awesome when lit up!

I made a couple of scrapbooks in my lifetime. Mostly to highlight happy memories of the past. And a recipe book I made just for fun, so I could have all my magazine recipe cutouts in one place. I don’t think I could scrapbook all day long, though….Quality over quantity!

I don’t knit… I did take a stab at it one time – I got stuck on the “purl stitch” and then just kinda quit -I know, that’s bad! I hope I return to it again one day, though! I think I still have my needles somewhere.

I have never worked with a Cricut machine – so if you have any questions about that, or cutting vinyl, you’d be barking up the wrong tree. Sorry about that. I work in a very freehand style although I do use stencils sometimes to make things easier.

Artforms I’m Interested in (But Not Yet Tackled)

Paper mache
Origami
Batik

But aside from the crazy dream I had once of owning or living in an art museum, I am proud to continue to be a source of creative enlightenment for readers and aspiring crafters everywhere.

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