This is a heart I did with water soluble oil pastels on black gesso.

Several years ago I saw a documentary on Andy Goldsworthy.  His art is some of the most amazing I have ever seen.  He goes into nature and creates.. well, it’s hard to describe. They are sometimes scuptures but not always.  He uses the materials in nature to create his art.

I am going to search netflix to see if I can find that documentary again.  If you’d like to read about Andy and see more of his art, go here.

This is how my hands look a lot of the time.  Right now as I’m typing I have gesso on three of my fingernails.  I am so messy!  Do you get paint all over yourself when you do art?  All my stay at home clothes have paint all over them, too.  And sometimes I have it in my hair.  Paint isn’t so bad, but glue is hard to get out

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

With 24 hour a day global news I am constantly hearing about someone in need that I can’t help.  I wonder if this leads many to apathy.  Being so overwhelmed with so many causes and needs can be overwhelming.

The above quote helped me remember that while I can’t feed all the starving children in the world, I can make a difference in my daily life.  I don’t need money or to be able to volunteer a day a week to give someone a kind word or a smile.

I think about how people have truly changed my day by just giving me a compliment or opening a door for me.  I want to remember that I hold the ability to turn someone’s life around if I show kindness and caring.

This is a strange shape because I cropped out the black bar that’s on my window.  This is a really pretty star hangy-down thing I got for 75% off at an after Christmas sale.  It kept twirling around to a different angle than I wanted.  If I could have gotten the shot straight on you could see how the light shines through it.

I’ve seen a couple of challenges online to take a picture a day for a year.  I take a lot of pictures, but I don’t really take the time to notice things in my day to day life, nor do I take the time to frame the photos.  I’d like to take this challenge to improve not only my photographic skills, but my photographic “eye”.

So, here’s my first picture

This is my art table.  I just took a pic of it as it looks on any given day.  Mister’s house is a two story house and I am looking forward to setting up my art room in one of the unused bedrooms upstairs.  I always have a big mess and in my current place, everyone who walks in can see it.  It will be nice to have a place that’s out of the way so I can enjoy making a mess!

After sharing a picture of my painted shoes, I got a lot of requests to have a class on it.  So I’m offering a four week class on the details of how to paint shoes.   The class will begin March 19th. It’s really going to be fun!  I’m offering this class in a new format.  I’ve created a blog just for those taking the class.  I’ll post the instructions each week, along with photos.  And we can have discussions via the comments section.

So, if you want some unique, funky shoes of your own, come join us!  The course is $25.00.  To register for the class, click here.

I made these painted shoes this week.  I undercoated with gesso then painted with acrylic paint.  I wore them to the car tag agency the other day and got all sorts of questions.  Love it!  They were a conversation starter in a large city where strangers don’t normally talk to me.

Then I switched over to the left side of my brain for a while.  I installed a plugin that made a little shopping cart for my courses and ebooks.  I only have a few things listed so far but it’s real simple to order something and pay with PayPal.  I do accept other types of payment, but that requires that you email me first.  I’m proud that I was able to create this simple little cart! Click on the “Online Courses” link in the box on the right of this page to check it out!

Last weekend Randy and I saw these cute stars covered with beads at a store.  I bought the wire to make them and we’re going to see if we can do it this weekend.  I hope we can because they are so cute.  I think the ones I saw were machine made because there were a bunch of them exactly alike and they were less than $5.  Mine are going to be much cuter!

My sweet dil called me last night.  She’s super organized so I asked her to help me get a plan for getting busy on my wedding plans.  She gave me some great tips.  I now have two pages of notes for our conversation, and I’m hoping that next week I will get started on at least finding a dress.

I hope you have a great, creative weekend!

I have worked at home for many years.  When I worked for Artella, even though I was at home alone, I was working with other people but now I work alone.  It’s hard to keep going when there’s not immediate feedback or chit-chat.

I appreciate those of you that leave comments here so much!  It helps me know that someone is out there and I’m not alone.    But I think I need to make some art contacts locally.  I am talking with a bead shop owner in Bartlesville (where Randy lives, about an hour away) about doing a journaling class at her shop.   I’d really like to find some friends to create with in person.  And I’d love to be able to sell my art locally, but I have no clue where to start.

Selling online requires so much marketing.  I spend a lot of time dealing with delivery of e-products, and trying to get people to check out my Etsy shop.  I am not complaining, just saying that I don’t think selling locally would be any more work than I’m doing now.

On March 14th or 15th, whatever that Saturday is, my friend Paula and I are doing a workshop on self discovery through collage in Midland, TX.  I’m going there to visit her and my son and his girlfriend.  While I’m there we’re going to do the workshop and I’m so excited!   Paula is a life coach and energy healer so we will bring different aspects to the attendees.   She and I have done these collages together for years so it will be fun to share that experience.

I’m all about the really bright, funky colors recently.  This is one I’m currently working on.

The picture isn’t very clear because I moved when I snapped it, but you can get the idea.    I’m also working on two other projects that I hope to finish up and get pictures of tomorrow.

I found some websites of local artists today.  Most of them participate in local art/craft shows.   I’m thinking of finding out more about that. Do any of you do these kind of shows?  Is it worth the time and money?  Any tips for me?