A Time for Change…

I’m beginning a new journey in my life, in my art really. I will always paint but lately I’ve had the desire to try my hand at other mediums. I want to grow as an artist, break out of my preconceived boundaries and try new things.

A few years ago I made a mosaic table top. A very simple design using leftover tile pieces. I thought it was fun to do but my painting came first so I didn’t explore that avenue. Now, however, I have a great desire to try my hand at mosaics again. This time I am eager to use found objects such as china fragments, ceramics, marbles, stones, and glass to name a few. I want to use seashell pieces collected from my families trip to Oregon last summer to make something very personal just for me. I want to create original pieces with more complex designs, with feeling and personality.

This fall, I will set on down another road. I am taking a stained glass course. I am incredibly excited! I have always loved stained glass but never thought of trying it myself. I want to learn all I can. I want to learn how to make intricate, beautiful pictures with colored glass. I can’t wait!

And when I’ve gotten my bearings on mosaics and stained glass, I want to learn to weld. Characteristically a “mans” domain, bending, shaping, and welding metals intirgues me to no end! I love metal. Look around and see the many metal pieces that make up your surroundings. The variations are vast, the appeal immediate.

Why am I hungering for such change? I want to grow as an artist, which to me is more than a profession. It’s also very personal. I want to express myself with a variety of media. I want to make beautiful art with fewer boundaries. I want to make functional pieces as well as art. I also have the desire to reduce the “waste” in this world, taking found objects, scrap metal, tossed furniture and remaking them into objects of beaty. Professionally, I would also like to form ongoing and long lasting relationships with my clients where I can provide them endless opportunities to beautify their homes and their lives.

Along the way, I will share my progress and who knows where my journey will ultimately take me…

A Passion for Art

I’ve recently started teaching after school drawing classes for Young Rembrandts. I teach a weekly class at 3 different schools and at the beginning of each class the kids get excited about the new drawing. “That’s a cool drawing!” “Will I be able to draw that?” The good thing about teaching an art class – outside of the school art class- is that the kids really want to be there. They have an interest in art and they try hard. Some follow the lesson to a tee. Others have their own idea of what the picture should look like. They learn the principles that are being taught and reinforced in subsequent classes and apply them to later art projects. They see that they really can draw. They see themselves improving and trying new things. My little artists are so excited to show Mom and Dad what they have done! It makes me wonder…

I’ve been tossing around the idea of teaching painting lessons to older children for a while now. Knowing me, I’ll probably toss it around a while longer. Maybe I’ll start giving lessons to my own girls first to see how things go. But really, the thought of getting the next generation involved in art, in painting is exciting. I sure wish I had someone to teach and encourage my art when I was young. I took art in high school but it took about 10 years for me to pick up a brush again and follow my heart. Since I have that passion for painting, I feel the need to pass it on, to help others find that passion.

In such a technology driven world, we sometimes overlook the beauty in life. I love nature and the outdoors. I love flowers in bloom and jagged rocks. I love sunlight on the water and the deep orange of a sunset. I love color and shadows and light. I guess that’s why I love to paint. There’s just something about getting those colors from the paint tube onto a canvas or wall and manipulating them to make the picture in you mind.

So, if you have a child who is into art encourage her. Enroll him in a class. Do art projects together. And if you’re the one with that hidden passion, let it out! It’s never to late to start.