Willowing Arts : A Year of Light 2025 (March)

Every Sunday night another 2-3 new lessons arrive in my inbox.

I loved these lessons from March.

Besides learning and practicing mixed media skills, I love listening to the accents from the Willowing Arts teachers who live and teach from different countries.

Red Chair

What makes me love this painting so much?

I do love a great porch.  I love a pretty door... nice blooming plants... a blue sky...

Hmmm...

This little 8"x 10" painting is the 100th Weekly-ish Challenge painting with my art mentor / dear friend Cheri. 100!!! 

We started during COVID, a time when we needed a way to boost our creativity and an excuse to talk for a hour each week or so. Cheri lives in another state, but that hasn't kept us from being painting partners. We came up with the idea then made some rules.

1. We'd take turns coming up with a challenge word  
* *unless we chose a phrase or concept.
2. We'd do an oil painting in response to the challenge
* *unless we chose to do art is some other way.
3. We'd have one week to complete our art projects
* *unless we needed a few extra days... or weeks.
4. We'd text to let the other know when we finished
* *unless we were already talking for another reason.
5. We'd have fun and laugh...

I'm a loyal fan of using Blurb, so of course we made little books to record our project.

Here are links.  

• Click PREVIEW under the book cover to open the book. 
• Click the two arrows above the book to make it bigger. 
• Click the bottom right corner to turn the pages. 
• Flip through and enjoy!

Weekly-ish Challenges #1-#20

Weekly-ish Challenges #21-40

Weekly-ish Challenges #41-#60

Weekly-ish Challenges #61-#80

Weekly-ish Challenges #81-#100

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friend Sara Harley who has the most wonderful collection of photos that she's taken over the years.  When I get stuck in a I-have-no-idea-what-to-paint mode, she comes through with the perfect reference photo. 

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Canvas Board in Vintage Frame

Click Red Chair if you'd like to purchase this painting. 

WordSpark

 

Doesn't it feel great to complete a big project?

Yes, it does!

Isn't it great to have creative friends, even if they're in different states?

Yes, it is!

 

Three of us got together (via Zoom) about a year and a half ago and made a plan.  

You have to have a plan... even if you change it several times in the beginning and a few more times along the way. 

We met each month or so over Zoom. We took turns giving the "Word" as a creative "Spark" to help us create two paintings or art pieces. After a few weeks, we'd Zoom again to see each other's work revealed, celebrate our successes, and get the next "WordSpark."

Click HERE for the link to our project.

• Click PREVIEW under the book cover to open the book. 
• Click the two arrows above the book to make it bigger. 
• Click the bottom right corner of the book to turn the pages. 
• Flip through and enjoy!

You can see Julie's other art HERE.

You can see Deidre's other art HERE.

Painting Easter Bunnies with Seniors at OLLI

Really?
The newspaper guy was there for an hour. 
He took dozens and dozens of photos.
And... this is the one he chose??? Honestly...
Oh, well, at least I look happy.

What lovely little paintings from these lovely men and women!!

Of course the paintings done by these students are priceless, but you're welcome to purchase one of my examples:

Click Bunny with Tulips or Bunny with Easter Eggs.

Life Book 2023 (September, October, November) Part 2

Yes, I know I'm a year and a half late, but I finished! I completed every lesson from my Willowing Arts Life Book 2023!

In THIS POST, I wrote: And, I'm determined to finish those other 2023 lessons I never got to. I'm writing it here, so hold me to it! Give me a few weeks, but stay tuned for the last batch of 2023 lessons!

Here they are! The biggest difference that I felt while working on them is that using these different media materials was so hard and frustrating when I started a couple of year ago.  Now, working on these... it was just fun.

I Like... (3/25)

  Thank you to Leeanne of Not Afraid of Color for reminding me to notice things I like. 

I like zucchini bread...
because it's good,
and because I have soooo much zucchini still in my freezer.

I like my new e-reader.
I feel guilty that I'm not loyal to turning the paper pages,
but I do love reading on a Kindle.
 (hover over a word to get the meaning...
reading in bed with no light on... search... choose font size...)
And it gave a good excuse to make a new bag case for it.

I like seeing a great idea on blog-friend's post.  I saw this two days before Valentine's Day at Lining Up My Stitches and knew I had to make one... well... 6 the next day!
Using up scraps! Making something cute! Seeing grandkids happy!
Win! Win! Win!

I like a big bowl of Chex mix.

I like watching the snow from my front porch...
at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30

I like turning dabs of paint into something recognizable.

LeeAnne's  get-to-know-you writing topics this month:

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be an elementary teacher.  As you got older, how did it change? Nope. From the time I was about 8, I wanted to teach kids and never waivered from that. I loved being a student. I loved being in the classroom. I loved learning.

In honor of St Patrick's Day, what is your favorite shade of green? Green is my favorite color. I like true greens and bluish greens better than olive greens. Do you have any clothes in that color? Accents for the home like pillows, duvets, etc? I sure do.  My car is green. I have a couple of green chairs. My carpet is green. My dishes have a green border.

What was it like being the oldest/youngest/middle/only child of the family? I'm #5, the youngest.  My siblings are 7,9,11,12 years older than me. My oldest niece is 13 years younger than me.  So, I could sometimes fit in with my siblings, sometimes fit in with my nieces and nephews, and sometimes didn't quite fit in with either. It's all good though.  I wouldn't trade or change my place in the family.

What was growing up in your hometown like? I grew up in a small (population about 5,000) town in the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas. [If you watched the based-on-real-events movie American Made with Tom Cruise, that's my hometown... but do not believe half of that movie... and, yeah... the other half is true. And, those events took place while I was in high school.] I loved my hometown and my growing-up years.  I went to school with the same kids from 1st - 12th grade. We lived on a dirt road, road the bus home from school, and got 2 channels on the television.  We all cheered for the Bearcats on Friday nights, had a drive in during the summer, and a theater during the winter.  In elementary school we had bunking parties with friend. In high school we spent time at the Cone n Cue or dragging Main Street. Good times.