Willowing Arts: A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales (January)

When I taught school, one of the older kids (a 4th grader) would come on the intercom at 8:05.  He or she would lead the whole school in the Pledge of Allegiance. That would be followed by the school creed and motto:

At Holcomb School, 

we are a diverse community 

of respectful, responsible, and creative 

life-long learners. 

Aim High!

I haven't said that sentence daily for a nearly a decade, but I think I'm holding true to being a life-long learner! 

Acrylics & paint pen

Masking fluid, watercolor, paint pen

Watercolor, paint pens, colored pencils

Watercolor, paint pens, colored pencils

Pen & ink drawing, collage, stencil, acrylic inks

Acrylics, paint pens

Art Journal Cover, gesso, acrylics, paint pen

Watercolor & salt, pencil & blending stump, splatter, gel pen

Layers of collage papers, craft paint mark making, paint pens 

Willowing Arts: A Year of Light (September)

Every Sunday night a couple of new art lessons pop into my inbox.

I've been learning and experimenting and working with mixed media for three years now. I've done close to 350 pieces. I'm better at using the different mediums now, and I'm so much more confident in starting each project. While I may no longer be at the beginning of my learning, I plan for the mixed media journey to continue for a long time.

Anyway...

Here's to another month of learning from the teachers of Willowing Arts.

Art Soul Gathering 2025

I participated in an on-line event called Art Soul Gathering. I didn't purchase the longer course, but I very much enjoyed doing a few of the free sample lessons offered last week. Each teacher had a different style and different skills and techniques to teach.   It's always good practice for me to draw and paint a face even if the styles and materials are very different.... and even if I don't get it quite right... still good practice.

Using just 2 colors

Using the side of a junk-mail credit card

Covering collaged papers

Embellishing with embroidery...
only I cheated and just drew the lines.

Using only four colors + some pink at the end
and torn collage paper.

Willowing Arts: Mastering Mixed Media (#1-10)

I can't claim to have "mastered mixed media," but I sure do enjoy getting better and better at it.  There are 39 lessons in the Mastering Mixed Media course, and I look forward to giving all... or most... of them a go.

... drawing... watercolor... paint pens... collage... stencils... acrylic... watercolor pencils... colored pencils... fabric... embroidery thread... pastels... glue... gesso... stamps... and imagination...

Here are my first 10:

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.

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.