Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Outstanding Blogger Award


I thought I'd better publish this today since tomorrow is April 1st. It might seem like I'm playing an April Fools' Day joke if I wait!

I've been nominated and given an Outstanding Blogger Award by Wendy whose blog is called Pieceful Thoughts.  Her quilts are beautiful, and she writes as if she's just having a conversation with me.   I have so enjoyed getting to know her through her blog posts (and our side e-mail conversations). 

The other day I was happily reading along in her post when I was shocked to see that she'd nominated my humble little blog for this award.  I actually clicked on my own link to see if it was really me or some other Word Weaver Art.  Yep.  The link brought me right here.  You honor me, Wendy. Thank you.

The Outstanding Blogger Award is given one blogger to another.  It's a way of supporting and acknowledging one another.  I love that.  I love reading blogs.  I love coming across a blog that I really enjoy then going all the way back to its beginning and reading it through.  I love the present-tense-ness of blogs. (Ok, it's not a word, but it gets to my point.) A post may have been written 5 years ago, but it's as if it happened yesterday. 

As an award recipient, I get to answer some questions from Wendy.  Right away you'll see why I was surprised to see my blog included.  For one thing, I'm not a quilter. Not to worry, Wendy gave me complete permission to change her questions to suit myself.

  • Coffee or Tea? 
  • Who inspired you to begin quilting? 
  • What is one unusual item we would find in your quilting room?
  • When you are not quilting, we’d find you . . ? 
  • Where do you find your quilting inspiration? 
Coffee or Tea?
Between the two, I’ll choose tea.  I like sweet iced tea well enough. I'll sip hot sweet tea if I need to. I’ve only tasted coffee one time. Once was enough. My real preference, however, wouldn’t be either.  I’d choose Coke – Just a good ice cold Coca-Cola

Who inspired you to begin painting?
Cheri Wollenberg @artbycheriwollenberg  In 2007, Cheri offered a six-week oil painting class at my church.  In that first lesson she guided us to paint a tree.  Much to my surprise, mine actually did look like a tree once I finished!  I couldn’t wait to begin the next painting. I continued weekly lessons with her for four years. She became my painting teacher, my art mentor, and my dear friend. Although she now lives several hours away, we still manage to paint together a couple of times each year.

What is one unusual item we would find in your studio?
I have several wind chimes hanging from the ceiling in my art room. They make me happy there.  I can reach up and make them chime whenever I finish a painting.

When you are not painting, we’d find you . . ? 
If I’m not painting, check the back yard.  I’ll either be puttering around in the garden or hanging out with the chickens.

Where do you find your painting inspiration? 
There are four main ways I choose what to paint.
1.) If someone commissions me to do a painting for them, I paint whatever they have in mind. I find it to be a honor when someone chooses my artistic style for their special image.
2.) Every month I paint something for Inspiration Collaboration.  I look at Sara’s Inspiration Image and read her words about it. Then wait for the muse of inspiration to give me an idea to create in response. It expands my realm of comfort and boosts my creative spirit every time.
3.) For the last 16 weeks, my art mentor Cheri and I have committed to a weekly painting challenge. Each week we take turns coming up with the week’s inspiration word or phrase. It's wonderfully uncomfortable and has pressed me to think and stretch my artistic skills.
4.) Sometimes I see an image that I just know that I have to put on canvas... an image that tells a story. It might be a farm animal with an interesting expression or a toddler doing something completely normal.   It might be a photo that I took myself, something a friend posted on-line, or an image I've randomly come across. I've learned to just write that friend (or stranger) and ask permission to use their wonderful image as a reference.
I love being inspired in all four of those ways.

The second part of this award has two parts.  I'm to pass the award on to my favorite bloggers and choose some questions for them.

I receive the blogs I follow in my feed each day. I decided to choose those that I look forward reading the most... the ones that I never want to miss or scroll past.  Some of them have a large readership... others are very small. Some are written by people (although I've never met in person) I consider my friends... others have no idea I exist.  Some have probably already received this honor and decline to participate again... others may have no interest.  I hope some will choose to have some fun and answer my questions.

These are my favorites (in alphabetical order):






Pieceful Thoughts (who nominated me, but I wanted on the list of favorites.)





Questions:
  • Silence, music, podcast, or something else when you create / work?
  • What's your favorite part of the process as you create / write?
  • Where do you do your craft, and what's that space like?
  • How do you choose who to follow? (Blogs, Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
  • Why do you write and post on your blog?

It was a pleasure to answer the five questions given to me and to think of five questions that I'd like to know answers to.


2 comments:

  1. What fun to read your answers to my questions, and I see some blogs I don't know, so I'll be checking them out. While I'll not write another post, I'll answer the questions in an email to you so you can read my answers/ramblings. Thanks for the fun read!

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    1. I look forward to reading those answers/ramblings!

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