For me, 2022 has been a year of learning & experimentation. I've been tackling new paint mediums like gouache & acrylic gouache, and playing around with different surfaces, varnishes, & framing options. Here's a list of eight art supply items I've been enjoying this yearâalong with links so you can try them out yourself!
As the year draws to a close, Iâm looking back over these twelve months to make a few notes about the books that have moved, challenged, charmed, or delighted me the most in 2022. Authors include Agatha Christie, Howard Thurman, bell hooks, Iris Murdoch, Dorothy Sayers, and others.Â
Gouache has been taking the online art world by storm since the pandemic hit, and it's honestly pretty confusing. First of all, how the HECK do you pronounce it? Also, how do you get started? In this article, I'll share some of the tips I wish I'd known when I picked up gouache last year, and let you know about the materials I've especially come to love.
So, youâve just written a poem. Youâve crammed it with emotion, love, and artistry. You really believe in it. But if youâre being honest, you know it needs some workâmaybe even (ouchy-ouch) a LOT of work. And yet you really have no idea where to begin with that dreaded process: revision. Here's a checklist to help!
Inspiration and Time To Write don't always get off at the same station. Do you frequently find yourself all out of ideas the minute you settle down to writeâ âeven though you had been looking forward to it all day? For times like that, poetry prompts can be an invaluable addition to a writer's toolkit, and I'd like to share a few of my personal favorites with you.
Okay. So. You've been painting. With watercolor. And if you're being honest, it's not going all that great. Your paintings feel messy and out of control or wooden and scripted in a clumsy sort of way. Let me reassure you: as a mostly self-taught artist, I've been there too, and I want to share some tips to help out!
I certainly wanted the poem to reflect the strong personal attachment I felt to this pair of birds whose ardent connection to one another aroused all my sympathies at a time when global events made connections between living things seem especially frail.
Ah, Lament. How I used to fear you as an ominous precursor to madness and despair. How many years I wasted trying to keep a lid on you, trying to put you back in the cage not knowing that every caged thing tells the world a lie.
Not too long ago, I was flipping through the journal I kept in those days and I found an outraged entry about Annie, penned by my jealous twelve-year-old self. I began to laugh at little me, and I laughed and laughed. Then I wrote this poem.
