Mark Making Back in September, I wrote a blog about my favorite mark making tools. I was going to follow up with how to use them, but I wound up writing about something else. I want to return to that original idea now because I love mark making. You might say that everything in art is aContinue reading “Mark Making”
Thank you As the year comes to a close, I wanted to send a holiday greeting and a big “Thank You” to all. I’m filled with gratitude and joy from all of you. Whether we met in a class or you purchased my art in some form, I am so grateful that our paths have crossed. I’veContinue reading “Thank you”
I Know What I Said Hello from HOT Southern California. We are deep into another heat wave. I find sometimes it’s hard even to think let alone do much. I’ve had the air conditioner blasting and fans going to stay cool. I just can’t deal with the heat anymore. I want autumn to kick in NOW. I know I saidContinue reading “I Know What I Said”
My Most Favorite Mark-Making Tools Summer is winding down and it’s almost time to get back to school or work or make more art or teach more classes and workshops. I have enjoyed taking my summer off from teaching. I did teach 2 workshops online. Some other artists/teachers that I admire have been wonderful inspirations. I was able to dig deepContinue reading “My Most Favorite Mark-Making Tools”
Taking A Break It’s been two months, and I have not written a blog post. I didn’t mean to take a break, it just happened because of all I’ve had going on. My garden has kept me busy, and sometimes I lose track of time. I have only a few vegetables, but there is so much to do.Continue reading “Taking A Break”
Lunch From the Garden My connection to nature goes back to my very early years as a kid. I’d spend weekends with my grandparents at least one or two times a month. I had all of their ranches to roam and explore and all of nature around the rural community of Chino, CA. My grandfather had a green arm.Continue reading “Lunch From the Garden”
Why I Create Small Works I plan on entering the National Collage Society’s Small Format show. The pieces can only be 4-by-6 inches, postcard size. Just what I like. There’s no jury, so everyone gets in. I love these small formats and decided I’d create some and enter the show. I had some mat board cut to 4-by-6 inch forContinue reading “Why I Create Small Works”
Blowing Wind Artwork based on nature can take many forms and serve many purposes. Because “nature” is such an immense topic that encompasses so many things, I can only provide a partial list of the various sub topics that may appear in nature-related artwork: https://www.art-is-fun.com/nature-in-art Nature can be a simple add on to a painting to convey aContinue reading “Blowing Wind “
New Beginnings I want to thank everyone that supported my art business and visited my website in 2021. Whether you bought a greeting card, a painting, a print, or are taking classes from me, your support means so much. I was going to write a post about the new year and resolutions and how to keep themContinue reading “New Beginnings”
What’s a Mood Board? And How to Create One I’ve talked about inspirations and creativity before in my blog here. There are many ideas about creativity and how to cope with artistic blocks. Some say you can be stuck or have a block but I think we put that block or being stuck in our heads, sometimes without knowing it. Similarly, there are manyContinue reading “What’s a Mood Board? And How to Create One”
Changes We all do it. It is what makes us such creatures. Everyone changes their mind. We do it when we are ordering dinner. We change our minds about what we will wear on any given day. We will sometimes even change our minds about more serious things. What about buying a house or car, orContinue reading “Changes”
Sketchbooks How and Why and My Favorites When I was in college, all my art classes listed a sketchbook as a required supply. I got kind of sick carrying around sometimes 4 wire bound books. I was so glad to find some regular book bound type and switched some of my sketchbooks over them those. In the beginning, I didn’t see theContinue reading “Sketchbooks How and Why and My Favorites “
Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing To create everyday can be a challenge. Things that are not about art seem to get in the way: dishes, laundry, and even day jobs. But if you can carve out 5 minutes a day to create a bit of art, you would be amazed by what happens. Stampington has a line of magazines toContinue reading “Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing”
10 Things I love About Making Art When I started thinking about a new blog post, I knew I wanted to stay with my focus on art, inspiration, the creative process, and what helps me become more creative. What came up is what makes me an artist and what I have discovered in my art life and my journey. With all thisContinue reading “10 Things I love About Making Art”
Reflecting Back To Move Forward There are themes and techniques in our work that will persist and continue through out our creative lives. Finding some paintings, drawings, collages or other art forms from years back can sometimes cause head-scratching, gasps, and overall feelings of regret. But there are learning experiences that can come out after some investigating. If you haveContinue reading “Reflecting Back To Move Forward”
Every Summer Every summer when I was in elementary school, if I didn’t have summer school, my dad would give me math lessons from the dreaded orange arithmetic book. Back in the late 50s, summer school was for kids that didn’t have the grades to pass. I did my time in summer school and I thought thatContinue reading “Every Summer”
My Natural Path I’m an artist. I teach private lessons and workshops and I’ve been creating some kind of art for about 65 years. I’ve always been drawn to nature. I spent the last year searching for a new creative direction for my art and the resounding NATURE echoed in my head. I can’t live without plants, flowersContinue reading “My Natural Path”
10 Ways To Make Your Art Class Work For You Taking art classes as an adult can be tricky. An adult student doesn’t seem to need to be directed to the learning process. Adults choose to take a class. There is no grade to encourage you. The class or classes are for enrichment or professional development. We sometimes take classes in different disciplines of artContinue reading “10 Ways To Make Your Art Class Work For You”
Why Do You Paint? I’ve been asked, “Why do you paint?” Sometimes people ask, “why do you create?” I’ve always answered, “I can’t not create.” But, I think there’s more to it. I think I’ve been holding back from my collectors, students, and people in general. I’ve been thinking about so many things this past year. Thinking about ourContinue reading “Why Do You Paint?”
Pending Euphoria Rhapsodic From the Greek, from euphoros-healthy. From eu+pherein, to bear-birth, deliverer,produce. euphoria…a feeling of well being or elation To be marked by elation by high spirits Rhapsodic…extravagantly emotional Enthusiastic…filled with or marked by enthusiasm From the Greek, enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein, to be inspired Enthusiasm…1. a belief in special revelations of the Holy Spirit. 2. AContinue reading “Pending Euphoria”
Changing Direction At the beginning of the year, I created a vision board. I’ve been creating one or two a year for about five years. This one was all about what inspired me. There were things I thought I’d like to make and colors I was drawn to. It didn’t stay that way for long. In March,Continue reading “Changing Direction”
Making Neutrals with Complimentary Colors Many people believe mixing complementary colors will result in “mud.” However, by being fully aware of the colors you are mixing and willing to experiment, you can get some beautiful neutrals to use in your artwork!
Becoming Mindful with Meditative Art What: Meditative Arts workshop When: Saturday, June 29, 2019, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Where: Catalyst Art Space Cost: $45 18+ only | all skill levels welcome | all materials provided
The Gelli Printed Codex: How to Use a Gelli Plate, Create Handmade Art Books What: The Gelli Printed Codex A 2-day workshop with Aleta Jacobson When: Saturday, April 27, 2019-Sunday, April 29, 2019, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Where: Fallbrook School of the Arts Cost: Member-Early Enrollment: $184 Member: $230 Non-Member: $305 Materials Fee: $20 Register: sandiegobookarts.com
Moving On Sometimes we need to listen to what some call — the inner voice. Or you might say the universe is trying to tell me something. I have not been listening for awhile. I’ve told my students to paint/create from the heart. It’s in us. Everything you need is already there. It’s in all of us.Continue reading “Moving On”
Stencil Girl’s Blog http://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2016/04/stenciled-journals-message-boards.html This is the link to my guest blog post for StencilGirlTalk blog. Enjoy. I am so honored to be a guest blogger for Stencil Girl. I am a bit of a stencil freak and a big fan for Stencil Girl. When they said let us see what you got I ran with it. SomeContinue reading “Stencil Girl’s Blog”
Design, Memory, Craft… by Faber-Castell The company Faber-Castell has been an art supply company since 1761. Doing the quick math… 255 years. That in itself is amazing. I was a fan with their fine art products from early in my art life. I bought a sketchbook in Italy when I was there on a 2 month art exploration lead byContinue reading “Design, Memory, Craft… by Faber-Castell”
Color, Color, Color Artwork by Chris Cozen The first meeting I had with Chris Cozen was at a local stamp store. Remember those? She was the teacher of a workshop that I was going to take. Chris had taught there many times and is a friend of the owner. I didn’t know Chris, and even though IContinue reading “Color, Color, Color”
See you at CHA! Hello CHA Hoppers, Last year was my first time at CHA. I had no idea what it even was. For those of you that don’t know the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA), here’s the story: This association is “celebrating 75 years of connecting the creative arts and crafts industry. CHA Mega Conference and Trade ShowContinue reading “See you at CHA!”
You Don’t Have To Have A Degree In Art…….. We sometimes think that unless we learn it all that we can’t create a great work of art. That is not so. Art is about willing to take risks and play and explore. Artists throughout the ages used their tools, took risks and explored to drive their art. Picasso was one of these artists thatContinue reading “You Don’t Have To Have A Degree In Art……..”
Getting the New Year off to an Art Start Hello All, After all the crazy times of the holidays I always try and review my art and projects that worked and what didn’t work. I look at the things I’ve created and see if this the direction I want to continue. After all that work I have to get myself back to creating andContinue reading “Getting the New Year off to an Art Start”
2014 in review…Thank you to all who visited my blog/webpage The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 470 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 8 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see theContinue reading “2014 in review…Thank you to all who visited my blog/webpage”
