FREE Online Art Classes!

I was surfing around on some art blogs today. I am a big fan of Traci Bautista's artwork. So, I was on her website and I discovered she is teaching a FREE....YES FREE...online class. Whooo Hooo! Strathmore (famous for artist papers) is sponsoring it. Thank you Traci and Strathmore! Here is the link if you are interested!

http://www.strathmoreartist.com/workshop-reg.html

They are offering 3 free classes. The first one is Traci's and it starts on January 1, 2012!

Art Studio Part 1

So...along with all my medical I have had going on, my roommate moving out...I also found out that I have a pretty bad flood in my house. The rain was leaking right in at ground level into my home. When my socks got soaking wet...inside my house...I knew I had a problem.

And yes, of all places, IT WAS IN MY ART STORAGE CLOSET! Hence, why I am writing about it in my art blog.

Anyhow, the BAD NEWS is this... it has apparently been going on for some time now because there was some pretty severe mold going on. It took weeks and weeks to tear it all out and repair the inside and outside. Not the best of things with my current health issues. Thank God for several of my friends who came and helped so much! Thank you Craig, Tom and Bubba.

I had to take EVERYTHING out of the closet. We are talking a TON of stuff. (I really wish I had taken pictures of the closet empty with all my stuff all over the place.)

But, the GOOD NEWS is this... it forced me to clean out and organize! And the best part is I was actually able to make more room in there for even more stuff! LOL!

Here are some pictures of it all cleaned up! I love it this way so much better!!!! I wish I had pictures of the desks before the flood happened. There were piles and piles of stuff on them. I had all these little containers of various art supplies and then stacks of unfinished projects, etc. Anyhow, so when I cleaned out my closet from the flood, I decided to clean off the tables to give me more room and a clean working space to hopefully inspire me to do my art work here more often. I can only show you the after cleaned off photo. But, doesn't it look great!?!!

The only thing is I still wish I could hide all these art supplies that are under the desk.

These cupboards are great...hidden storage!

Now I will take you into the secret closet....

yes...just a few more supplies...

Met a Famous Artist Today!!!

I took an exciting new class today at Gee Gee's Stamp store in Carlsbad. Paper Doll Tags with Julie Nutting. She is the author of a fabulous, must have art book: Collage Couture, Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art. Copyright 2011.

This is Julie and I with my creation! :-) It was great to meet Julie. Such a gentle, kind spirit.

There were probably about 12 of us in the class. I met two ladies that were sitting across from me that were such a delight. Kat and Cynthia. We ended up exchanging email info and hope to keep in touch.

I LOVE THESE GIRLY GIRLS!! They are soooooo cute!!

Julie Nutting's Canvas Work!

Just thought I would show you some of Julie Nutting's canvas work. I really wanted to take this class as well, but could not afford to take both. Aren't these beautiful!!?!!!!

Welcome to Anne's Art Journal (Blog)!

So, today this Art Blog is officially born. Welcome to Anne's Art Journal/Blog! I have decided that I really want to start keeping a document of all my ART ADVENTURES! Basically, a journal or scrapbook of the art portion of my life. I would also like to have a place to share resources with my art friends. But, I don't know if and when I will ever feel comfortable giving anyone this blog address. For now, I am happy just keeping it as my private journal of sorts, and then just see how it unfolds.

After writing my VERY LONG, first post a few days ago about my art story. Today, I can say, this story starts a new beginning! It starts with me now believing that I AM an ARTIST and I always have been!!! And this blog will give me the opportunity to document my journey on the way to believing that I am not only an artist but I am becoming an AMAZING artist.

I have been reflecting on this part of my life a lot lately and I really want to start acknowledging the "little artist" in me in a more nurturing, loving way. So, it is today, that I sit here, and acknowledge that I AM AN "ARTIST"! That EVERYONE is an artist! Whether you can sit down and draw OR NOT! Whether you can sing or play a musical instrument OR NOT! We all have creativity buried deep in our souls. It is only waiting for us to wake up and realize we need to let it out. The only tricky part is finding out what kind of artist you are.

We are ALL ARTISTS. We only need to BELIEVE we are; and then we are!

Anne's Art Story

I have been doing arts and crafts on and off ever since I can remember. But, I must admit I did not even realize this was the case until I sat down right now and asked myself this very simple question. When exactly did I start to do art? Well my first thought was when I got introduced to Stampin' Up! But, then, as I thought more about it; I realized I have been doing art my entire life. It started with play dough and coloring books before the age of 5.

When I was a child I remember doing crafty stuff at the local parks and recreation center or I would be creating some silly thing at home. But, I was FAR from having any sort of talent. I just liked to do it. I remember spending months and months making my Aunt Julianne this HUGE wall calendar that was inspired by this SUPER BRIGHT, very cute (so I thought) cartoon frog wrapping paper that I had. I have NO IDEA where I came up with the idea to make her a calendar or if she ever even hung it up. lol. But, I just remember spending hours and hours on it and finally mailing it to her as a gift. I think I was probably in 7th grade at the time.

BUT, I never could draw so I NEVER saw myself as an "artist" of any kind. I would do rug latch kits, a little coloring in coloring books, etc. That was just something I think some little girls would do.

In high school, the only art I can remember doing is my very best friend, Kathy Spencer, and I entered the Del Mar Fair Children's Arts & Hobbies Division. The funny thing was it was because we both collected business cards of all things? I have no idea why I collected business cards except that I remember liking all the pretty designs and colors on them. So, I came up with the idea to build a house out of the cards because we needed to figure out a cool way to display our business cards to others. Well, I am going to need to dig up the photos, but we ended up winning two first place ribbons and a special honor ribbon! The San Diego Union Tribune even posted a HUGE article with photos of our house in the front cover of the Local Section of the paper. But, again back then I did not see that as being art and I certainly did not see myself as an artist. After all, a true artist can sit down and draw a person, paint a beautiful scenery, etc. This was definitely not me.

In college, I don't think I did any art. I was probably too busy working 3 jobs and going to school full time. But, I always remember admiring art and wishing so much that I could be an "artist". I also have always been drawn to music and dance. But, again, I always had friends that were and wished I was. I just thought music, dance, art was a talent you are born with and you either had it or you didn't. And I didn't have it. I just always LOVED seeing/hearing it.

After college, I became friends with several people that I considered real artists! Even though they may not have thought of themselves as being so. I would continually encourage them. I had one girlfriend, Sandy Hohn, who would make greeting cards that I thought were so beautiful!! So, I bought a bunch of her cards. Then, I asked if she would make me a really BIG, blown up version of one of her cards to hang on my wall. She was so excited and I still have that piece of art to this day. I also had a guy friend named, Joseph Tabler, who is an amazing piano player. I don't think he could even read music; he would just sit down and play! And another friend, Timothy Burns, who was a photographer. All these friends did these things as a hobby, privately; and none of them believed they were very good. But, I admired their work soooooo much that I kept wanting to see it & hear it. Then, one day, I had an idea. Lets make a CD of Joe's music and Sandy can do the cover art work and Timothy can do the insert with his photography. They all seemed uncertain and unsure that what they had to offer was worthy of such a project, but I was completely convinced it was MORE than worthy enough. So, I became the project manager and 'Keys to Serenity' was completed and sold to all our family and friends with any proceeds contributed to a local charity. It was awesome!

Sometime around 2002? I was invited by a girlfriend to attend a party at her house. It was a Stampin' Up demonstration. I had NO IDEA what that was. I had never seen rubber stamp art in my life or been exposed to any scrapbooking at this point. But, I FELL IN LOVE. I just sat there with my mouth hung open watching all these women create. I was hooked immediately because I thought to myself "I can do this! You just stamp the image (that the REAL artist has drawn) and you just color it in like a coloring book! I went home that night and looked through the catalog marking TONS of pages of merchandise I just HAD to have. I soon realized I needed to spend over $1000 to get the supplies I felt I just HAD to have; not to mention the other list of wishful thinking items. So, the very next day, I was convinced by the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator to sign up as a demonstrator so that I could get a lot of discounted and FREE product. So, what did I do? Of course, I signed up. I had not even created one of my own stamped cards yet and suddenly I was a demonstrator and was suppose to now be teaching classes to others. LOL. LAUGH OUT LOUD! But, some how I stumbled through with the support of my loving customers. And it sure was FUN!! I now have more stamps, stamp pads, tools, paper etc. than a stamp store...and I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!

But, unfortunately, my health became progressively worse and I was forced to step down as a demonstrator. It was too much with my regular job, too. And, then, I soon stopped creating at home all together. All these art supplies were just sitting there collecting dust. I thought about selling them all to make some extra cash for my medical bills, but I just could not let them go.

Eventually, I started to take an occasional class at various stamp stores in town. If I scheduled it in my calendar and paid for the class it would force me to do it. Otherwise, at home, left to my own devices; I would never sit down and take the time to create. I know MANY can relate to that!

Anyhow, this is where I started to get introduced to a whole new world out there beyond Stampin' Up! It started as my interest got sparked with stamp images and projects that were so different than the look of the Stampin' Up! images. Then, one day, I took an acrylic paints class offered at one of my favorite stamp stores. Then, I started to see magazines that highlighted mixed media artists. I started to see classes offered on altered books, altered bottles, jewlrey making, etc. I wanted to learn it all. I wanted to OWN it all. LOL! But, one thing was for sure, I had found my niche! MIXED MEDIA ART. Why? Well, because it is so dang beautiful, exciting, diverse and unique. But, more importantly, it gives you an excuse to collect just about anything and an ability to use ALL your hundreds of art supplies!

Hence, my new TRUE LOVE, mixed media art!