I am so excited to tell you about this project that I have been working on for months.   It is a website that lists online art classes from artists all over the internet.  The goal is to have all online creative classes listed there.  So far, I have a little over 100 classes.  They are not only listed, they are categorized and there is a page for every class.  The page gives a description of the class, the dates and the cost.  That page has a link to the artist’s site where you can register for the class.  Every page also has a star rating system just like Amazon, so you can rate any classes you’ve taken in order to help others who are considering the class.  You can also write reviews of the classes you’ve taken.

It is my dream to have one central place where students can go and learn about classes being offered.  I know that I’m always hearing about a great class after it’s over.  If you don’t go to an artist’s blog or website you might completely miss their class.  This way the artists get exposure for their classes, complete with links to the sign up page, for free.  (I am selling graphic ads if anyone is interested, but the class listing is free).  And the students can leisurely learn about lots of classes in one place.

I am still entering classes, but if you know of a class, or you teach one and I dont’ have it listed, please let me know!!

I have dreamed about this for a while, and it has been really hard work.  My friend, Kristina, was a major help with moral support, ideas and data entry.  Mister, with his logical brain, has been a great help too. But, the feeling of having actually created what was only an idea is so exciting!!!  Please check out http://creativityclasses.com and let me know what you think!

Valentine’s Omens

Last year on Valentine’s Day,  Randy and I found this rock on the edge of a brook.  We thought it was great sign that we found a heart on valentine’s day, when we were newly in love and planning our wedding.

This year we found another sign on Valentine’s Day.  Ironically, it more of a “domestic” sign.  We through our vegetable scraps out under a tree in our backyard to compost.  On Valentine’s Day, I was taking a picture of some squirrels when I found this onion scrap.

We were pretty excited.  We are wondering if we’ll find a heart sign every year on Valentine’s Day.

Woodpecker, More Love, and Fish

This guy has been in our yard several days over the past week.  I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the hole he is working on is huge!  When I took this picture, he had been out there about two hours.  They are so beautiful!

Last Sunday my stepson, Tyler, proposed to his girlfriend at the Oklahoma Aquarium.  It was so cute.  I took her to the aquarium under false pretenses.  He got there early and dressed up in a shark suit.  When he got to the part of the aquarium where he was, I asked her to have her picture taken with the shark and he pulled the costume head off, got on one knee and proposed.  It was so neat, and she was soo sooo shocked!!

Since we were at the aquarium anyway, we took in the sights.  My favorite was this fish that appears to have on blue lipstick.  I just want to paint his (her?) portrait!!

Art I’ve Done Lately

A while back I saw this multi-post tutorial at An Artist Journal on what she calls intuitive collage.  It’s a good tutorial and I thought it would be cool to try it.  I had fun, and want to try again, but I only got two 5 x 7 collages out of a large sheet of watercolor paper.   I know that doesn’t make sense, but the idea is to paint and glue things on a large paper then find the smaller collages within that and cut them out.  Here are the two I liked of mine.

xxx

This heart is something I did after watching some youtube videos of an artist named Carla van den Berg.  She does these awesome paintings using grout, eggshells and something called chicken grit.  So much texture!!  Just beautiful.   So I did the background then used a heart stencil and filled it in with grout.  This was practice so it’s not that great, but I learned that the grout does work and you can play with the texture because it takes a long time to dry.  I have an idea for a larger one I want to do.  I’m thinking about entering an art show here in April.  If I can get this technique to work as I want, I might enter it.

One more heart.  I love this one!!  I just slapped coats of paint and lots of gesso on this canvas in many layers, then scratched the heart with an icepick.  It’s simple but I like the look of pristine white over something that apprears to have weathered many storms.

This winter has been challenging for me.  We have had an usually cold and snowy winter which has kept me in most of the time.  I am an extrovert and need a lot of people around to keep me energized.  I have gradually  felt my energy draining and now I am at a low point, and really looking forward to spring.  I find it hard to do what I want to do each day.  I feel like I’m walking through molasses.

I have kept up with  drawing something each day.  Below are a few more things I’ve drawn and scanned.  Lately I’ve been doing some drawing lessons I found at Toad Hollow Studio. She has some good basic drawing tutorials.  I’ve enjoyed the ones that teach how to use the pencil to shade and to get smooth or textured lines.  I am doing a bit more advanced lessons now and they are challenging and I find myself feeling frustrated.  That is why I can’t draw!  When it gets tough, I want to quit.  The most challenging thing for me is getting the parts of the whole where they are supposed to be.  I’m trying to learn to sketch it in first but I get things all out of whack and want to throw it down.  Patience is not my virtue

As promised here is a picture of the necklace my son made for me.  Isn’t it beautiful?  And one of a kind that no one but me owns!

Here are the bracelets I made while Paige was here.  They are plastic bangle bracelets that I covered with tissue paper, rhinestones, and some have glitter, too.

I added a page to my site with a gallery of a lot of my art journaling pages.  I had hoped to write captions on each one explaining what I used to create the page. Well, after writing captions on over 100 images, the service I was using didn’t work on the page. So I had to upload all the photos again, only to discover that the only way to write captions was to load each image individually.  ARRGGGHHH!  So, I’ll try to write the captions later when I”m not so tired.  In the meantime, if you want to see the pages, go here.

This week I have a variety of interesting sites that I have stumbled upon.  (Do you know about stumbelupon.com?  If not, check it out!)

40 Inspirational Songs to Help You Reach Your Goals

Little Statues Carved from Crayons

Believing in What You Do

Angel Wings Made From Table Knives

Search for images with Creative Commons License

This week I’m featuring the site of my dear friend, Karen.  Her site, Square Peg People is so full of love and enthusiasm, just like she is!  Her site is a personal spa,  “ A resources and community to inspire, encourage and nourish the inner YOU – the essence of YOU – the real YOU!

If you have ever felt like you just don’t fit in and want to learn to accept that uniqueness instead of feeling out of place, Square Peg People is for you!  Please check it out and experience Karen’s loving, welcoming atmosphere.

I have just updated all the classes on a page, with new descriptions, and new starting dates.  All my classes will be offered at various dates in July, so take this opportunity to have some summer fun.  You’ll learn some things and meet some other artists in the online class groups.

Schedule of Classes:

Happy Feet begins July 1st

Creative Ways to Pray for Those You Love begins July 1st

Fun Art Journaling begins July 9th

Fun Art Journaling Continued begins July 9th

Happy Feet begins July 1st

Waking Up to the Real You begins July 15th

Journaling Prompt Cards begins July 15th

Find Your Personal Symbology begins July 22nd

For detailed information on each class, including price, go to the Classes page.

I didn’t have time to write a tutorial this week with the boys here, but here is one from http://cutoutandkeep.net that I love.  You cout these stars out of magazine images, scrapbook paper or whatever you want.  Aren’t they great?  Here is the tutorial.

Have fun!

If you haven’t visited  iHanna’s blog, you should!   I really love her blog.  Partly because she’s a great artist and works in so many different media.  But mostly because her personality if so warm.  You feel like you’re hanging out with her when you read the great posts.  She is on a hiatus for the summer, so it’s a great time to get caught up on the posts.  And you can subscribe to her newsletter while you’re there, too.