Some awesome people and sites to check out!

Writing my earlier post today made me think of the numerous generous people I am in contact with every day through blogs and websites, and how much talent and generosity is out there!

A number of these artists are so giving with their time and information- there is a number of them doing free tutorials or giving instructions on how they made something so you can too.

This is by no means a complete list of what is out there- but whom I have on my list right now that is generous with their talent.

In alphabetical order:

One Designer's Journey: http://designerann.blogspot.com/ - videos of crafty things and recipes

1st Floor Flat: http://1stfloorflat.blogspot.com/ - video tutorials of art & stuff

alisaburke: http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/ - recipes and how-to's for art & photography

Art Freebies: http://artfreebies.blogspot.com/ - free vintage-type images for you to use in your art

Creative Carmelita: http://creativecarmelina.blogspot.com/ - step-by-step instructions for many different things

Heather Thomas: http://heatherthomasblog.blogspot.com/ - step-by-step instructions for machine quilting

Hub Bub: http://dianatrout.blogspot.com/ - lots of video tutorials for art journaling and Creative Revolutionaries

My Art Journal: http://dianesalter.blogspot.com/ - mixed media tutorials & tips/hints for craft shows

Scrapzville: http://scrapzville.blogspot.com/ - video tutorials about everything scrapbooking & monthly swaps

Teesha Moore: http://www.teeshamoore.com/latest_news.htm - how she does her art journals

The Magpie's Nest: http://intothemagpiesnest.blogspot.com/- freebies and tutorials

The Three Muses: http://thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com/ - weekly challenges for anyone to join

Why not visit these sites and see what you think- and leave a comment for them. We bloggers LOVE comments!!!

What we do

As an aspiring artist, I follow many blogs and visit many sites every week. These blogs and sites give me inspiration, ideas, HOPE.

Those of you who make art, know for yourself that art is a healing thing! And those of you who don't make art because you think you can't- think again! It is in ALL of us to create things, to express ourselves in some artistic way.

Art takes many forms. There is art to making a beautiful home for your family and loved ones. There is art in growing food or flowers. There is art in cooking a delicious meal. There is art in donating your time and efforts to help others.

And then of course, there is the art we create to adorn our walls, our bodies, our furniture, our surroundings.

Any of the things we do to make our lives or the lives of others more beautiful, is art.

The community of artists is a generous and giving one. So many artists out there are helping people find peace and healing through art. They are helping people find their voice, and that is a spectacular thing!

There are so many online courses you can take to learn things, and with them you get a community of like-minded people surrounding. These people can often become friends. How cool is that???

Many of the courses are for a fee of course, as these wonderful people do have to make a living like the rest of us. And we should support them in their endeavours because what they do is important!

However, every once in a while, someone offers some instruction for free, out of the goodness of their hearts, because they have this need to reach out to those who might otherwise have to miss out on learning because of their financial situation.

I am going to tell you about one of those artists today: Tam at willowing.org

She is offering a free, four-week course on healing art beginning October 18- but registration is open now.

It is open to everyone! It costs nothing- but if you can afford the price of a class, why not make a donation or look at what classes are available for purchase on her site? If you can't afford to do that, please post about this class and add a button- spread the word so more people will go to Tam's site and either join the class or buy stuff- or both! Spread the love!!! Because that is what artist do!!!

You will find the button on my sidebar. I think it is going to be a great class. Wanna join me there?

So, about Suzi Blu...

Where to start describing an experience that changed your life and helped you believe things about yourself that you never would have thought possible?

My interest in art journaling prompted me to find YouTube videos to watch- and that was when I first came across Miss Suzi Blu. She had a whole bunch of free tutorials on there that were fun and informative. I watched every single one of them, I couldn't get enough. I watched Suzi demonstrate things and thought, "I might be able to do something like that- and I want to try!"

I did a search and found Suzi's website, "A Lovely Dream", at http://suziblu.typepad.com/ and saw that she offered online drawing classes, both in stylized faces and folk art dolls. There was a promotional video for "The Goddess and the Poet" which I watched two whole times in its entirety. You wanna know what really got me determined to sign up?

Suzi said she believes that everyone can learn to draw. That she believes we should all be kind and patient with ourselves and our mistakes and let our inner artist come out. Negativity is discouraged- well, trampled down with positivity, actually! Now I know she wasn't talking about or to me specifically, but here's The Thing: it felt like she was.

When you learn with Suzi, you are in for a real experience of the life-changing kind! All of the videos are filmed with a "you-can-do-this" attitude mixed with humour, good solid instruction, and constant reminders to take it slow, enjoy the process, and to expect mistakes. We were always encouraged to embrace our mistakes, to see them as part of our learning process.

Permission to make mistakes? Sign me up! lol That was definitely an environment I could embrace and learn in!

So, I signed up for The Goddess and the Poet, and got the Angels class too. I went right out and got some basic supplies and started watching the videos that make up the class. And I drew, every single day. I was addicted!

Drawing is fascinating and relaxing, and it gives me a real sense of accomplishment. Why? Because unlike some of the other artsy things I do, when I draw- even when I am trying to imitate my teacher- I am making something so unique to ME, something no one else has drawn exactly. I hope I am explaining myself properly.

I plucked up my courage and started posting even my beginner photos, of eyes, noses, lips... and moved on to faces and such. I can draw a face!!!

When you post something in the homework area, it gets specific feedback from Suzi- what works, what you could do to make it work better (if you want), etc. I don't know how on earth she managed all of the critiques, but she did. It was really great to see my work through her eyes, because I was finding that looking at it for so long kind of made me lose perspective.

The Student Gallery is a place for the students to post photos of what they are working on for everyone to see, and that really helps too. Not only is it inspiring as all get out, but it helped me see what I was doing right and wrong for myself, because I could see what appealed to me, and how it was the same or different to what I was doing.

Besides the personal attention, the classroom set up is great! I have "met" a lot of really cool people at Suzi Skool (http://suziblu.ning.com/). I follow their blogs and learn from them too!

After Goddess & Poet was finished, I signed up for Piety & Passion, which focused on side profiles and the 3/4 view of the face. That was harder, and I don't know that I really understand the placement of things yet, but since we get to keep the videos from the classes (which is a HUGE bonus!), I can re-visit it at any time and go through it- again and again if I need to.

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy the Petit Dolls Beginner and Advanced classes too, when they were offered one last time. I haven't gotten through too many of those yet, but again, since I have them to keep, I can do that at my leisure.

After a lot of debate with myself, I decided I wasn't able to commit to any other classes at this time, due to my volunteer work at my daughter's high school, and so I didn't sign up for the Mermaid class, sadly.
But I am still a member of the school and am able to see the wonderful things that everyone is producing! How fun is that?

If you need further motivation to sign up for a Suzi class, consider this: you will not only learn how to draw something (and that in itself is pretty amazing), but you will learn other things about yourself- like how much creativity and imagination you really have! And you will find it coming out in SO many different ways during and after a class with Suzi Blu.

I know I think bigger and so much differently about my art- and my life- than I did before I started. Sign up- you won't be sorry!