A COUPLE OF CLASSY PROJECTS...

"Walk the earth, stepping beauty into everything that you do."

-Nina Bagley-

(Quote used with authors permission)

One thing I love about the art community is the generosity of the sharing of ideas, techniques, and sometimes even their inspiring words. I encountered three such artist this week and I wanted to share them with you.

With spring in full swing and May just around the corner the thought of the old tradition of the May Basket was the inspiration for Mary of Mary's Meanderings to share a free May Basket Tutorial.(Photo property of Mary's Meanderings used with permission)

The May Basket tradition has roots that go back the early European settlers of the American continent. In some parts of the United States, May Baskets were and still are made. These baskets are small and usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someones door step. The basket giver would ring the bell and run away. The person receiving the basket would try to catch the fleeing giver. If they caught the person, a kiss would be exchanged.

(Photo property of Mary's Meanderings used with permission)

Mary's beautiful baskets would make lovely party favors!

I know you are going to get tired of me gushing about Artist Class - Art Tutorials but I cannot help myself after having done the first class project yesterday. The first artist to share her tutorial is Lisa McIlvain of Tarnished & Tattered. Her project is a Tattered Mother's Day Collage.I used Lisa's technique to create a collage, personalizing the theme, to hang in my studio as an inspiration piece. I love that I not only learned a new technique but that this project really challenged me to step away from precise placement and to let loose and have fun!

For quite some time I have wanted a piece to hang on my studio door. It needed to be something special, something personal, something inspirational, and something that announced that beauty and creativity lay just beyond the threshold. Lisa's tutorial brought about the desired results...For my image, I used a clipping I had saved from a magazine that depicts a group of women gathered in a room devoting themselves to the study of art, a reminder of the wonderful community of artistic women who share my passion. Each one holds a paint brush and pallet as they each paint their own unique interpretation of a still life set before them.My creative career began as a decorative painter. Painting was my bread and butter and allowed me to bring in an income and still be a stay at home wife and mother. I chose the theme of painting as a reminder of where I began. I embellished my collage with one of my ratty old paint brushed, a mini paint pallet, and a small square canvas.I thought my piece needed words as I always like to incorporate some sort of verbiage in my art. I looked at quotes. I searched through favorite books. I flipped thorough Scripture. Nothing seemed right, so, I gave up and went to visit some blog friends. That is where I found the beautiful caption that graces the top of my art work.

I visited Nina Bagley of Ornamental when I was arrested by these words in her post, "...walk the earth, stepping beauty into everything that they do." Nina was referring to the students she had just encountered in a class she recently taught. I could not get past that phrase knowing that this is the essence of what every artist hopes to do - walk the earth stepping beauty into everything they do.

I contacted Nina asking her permission to use her words and to make one little change from "they" to "you" to make the quote more personal and she graciously gave her permission. Nina's words, captioned at the top of this piece will now encourage me to step across the threshold of my studio, into this working place devoted to the study of art, and to the best of my God given ability to walk my artful journey stepping beauty into everything I set my hands to create.

Mary, Lisa, and Nina, ladies, you are each in a class of your own and I thank you for sharing your projects, your ideas, and even your words to enhance my artful journey!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

P.S. A little side note on permissions - you should never use another person's idea, photo, or even their words without seeking permission first. If Nina had said no then I would have waited to find the right thing to use on my art piece. I think it is very important to respect the ideas of those who came up with them.