Hello,

New SALE in my SHOP from Aug 31 - Sept 7th midnight. Save 20% with code FIRSTSALE.

So thank you for visiting, and hope you enjoy the many art tips in my BLOG, and paintings in my SHOP and just feel blessed while you hang around awhile.

Joanie

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Mar 2024: The Blue Wave

No, I am not waxing political....lol, but suggesting as a prompt for our BLUE month around the color wheel we try our hand at, and interpretation of,  Hokusai's iconic The Wave! But let me back up a minute. As we progress around the Color Wheel in 2024, we have knocked off the other two primary colors, that is, Yellow and Red. So this month we dive into Blue. Think water, sky, blueberries, and put your thinking caps on to discover loads more.  And as all artists know, blue does not have to mean anything traditional....faces can be blue (think Picasso), and even dogs and cats can have much more than blue eyes....how about blur fur or whiskers? Come join us .....everyone loves Blue!  It's the most popular color ever, worldwide, i read. We will be learning about the origins of blue pigment, learning to lighten, darken and mix the various gorgeous hues. And then we will paint paint paint throughout the month, anything and everything that Blue means to us. Registered students, plea

2024 Painting Classes - Imperfection Welcome!

Happy New Year all you creative people..and yes, that means YOU! I hope you all had some refreshing and fun times during the holidays, and are ready to get back to creating - because there is NOTHING more healing and transformative than creating.  I spent close to 3 weeks of December up in Seattle with my daughter, good times and she healed really quickly from her surgery (thanks for your healing wishes and prayers).....and upon my return home i looked on my art desk and saw two of my last little paintings for 2023. They both had been quite quickly done in some gouache on gessoed vintage paper.....very fragile stuff. But yummy to paint on. Honestly I forgot I had even painted them, so that was a fun surprise. So this morning I thought, ok, what can i do with these two small pieces?  I got out a glue stick and thought well....why don't i just stick them down to some stronger paper and see what happens. At least it will preserve them long enough to figure out what to do with them.  B

November Theme - FUN with Faces, classes begin Nov 6 & 8

This coming month, and the first two weeks into December, we will be approaching faces in a slightly different way than ever before.  I have a plan!   There is only ONE WAY of painting a face and that is YOUR WAY. Let's figure that out over the next few weeks.....get ready for lots of experimentation.  If you would like to join us for this burst of creativity to end 2023, please get in touch right away so I can send you the email details before next weeks classes begin.  joanie [AT] ARTfortheSOULofit.com or contact form . Class Payment link here And fyi, here are the calendars for classes for the rest of this year, and starting back in 2024. Time!!! What is it?  Where does it come from, and where does it go? If you enjoyed this post, please share it with an artsy friend. Creative. It's Good for the Soul! Blessings, Joanie To subscribe to this newsletter, Simply click here !

My Sampler Quilt - Hand Stitched

I guess I am calling this my very first quilt....though it is all hand stitched. A sampler! And wow, did i have fun creating this. I know I have been procrastinating offering a Begin at the Beginning Hand Stitching class, but if there a handful or more of folks interested, I would offer it this October/November over Zoom.  I am thinking 2 hours, maybe 3 with a lunch break..... I have learned oh so much these past several months, that I would be thrilled to share with you the Musts and the Don't Bothers, What you Need and that's truly minimal - just the simple What's Important Stuff.  Saturday morning sound good? Friday morning, anyone? nothing overly tidy about my stitching...referred to these days as Big Stitch quilting. i started the actual quilting almost dead center, figured i would stitch a few rounds of  a circle then meander, But i just kept going....felt right yin yang, Tao, it is soooo peaceful to hand stitch, above the yin yang symbol are brussel sprouts! appliqu

October Theme - FUN with Metallics, Irridescents and Aging

Hello Creatives! Thank you for all your birthday and decade turning well wishes. 70 is a-ok for me! Quite the milestone. I have an exciting theme for our painting class this coming month and it all starts this coming week. Monday 10am - noon via Zoom. California time. Monday 1:30 - 3:30 pm - in person in Santa Rosa Wednesday 10am to noon - via Zoom. Here's what we are doing: Years ago I attended the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco and was instantly enthralled with a display of antiquated vessels and proceeded to take pictures of the entirety of the collection, some 33 of them. Many appear to be blown glass and who knows what else. But each is either irridescent and/or otherwise brilliant in shape and construction. Here's a taste.... So, we will be sketching first, drawing these unusual shapes and wonkiness.....so bring your inks, charcoal, fountain pens, whatever tool makes you LOVE to Draw! Then we will start painting - you choose your medium but I am suggesting for a

What Makes You Happy - and September Theme

As I approach my 70th birthday, I find myself marvelling over the simplicity that makes me happy now in this latter meander of my life. Having left behind the goals and aspirations of a life full of ambition (in hopes of keeping my head above water and raising my two daughters).....now, if I have a current project I am knee deep into - whether a series of paintings, a bookshelf to build, a stitching project - or even a full size quilt - that Project IS my happy place.  Along with a few other notables... 1. Daily Soul Food - I am fortunate to have shared a spiritual discussion with a dearest of friends over the past 7+ years...each morning we pick up the phone and read out of a spiritual book and discuss ways to apply to our daily lives.  I cannot live without Soul Food. a snippet of my very first quilt! 2. I get to do what I love for income.....rather than make my living by selling my artwork, hocking my art on social media, even showing my work in galleries, I truly revel in teaching

August Theme: Learning from Milton

Oooh, I am sooo excited about this theme..... Milton Avery will be the master artist we study this month. He is an inspiration to me and I think he most definitely will be to you as well by the end of August. We will learn more of him, his life as a painter which began at age 40, but the main focus here will be  on his SHAPES.  And as painters, that's what we do, we paint Shapes!  And he is master of them. And we will not gloss over his COLOR choices either...they are odd and compelling.  Please do not make any snap judgements about whether you care for his work or not, resonate with or not.....there is such a deep well to explore here.....let me be your guide, or rather we will invite Milton to be our guide - you will not be disappointed. Delights ahead! There is a lot to choose from his inventory of paintings....he painted Landscapes Seascapes and oh my, Figures! Delicious, distorted, amazing  Figures March in Brown Orange Sand Come join the fun!!! Classes start next week and run

July Theme: Flowers (or whatever) To The Edge!

HI folks Remember, our Monday afternoon class, 1:30 to 3:30pm, will be meeting IN PERSON at 360 Circle Studio, Santa Rosa, CA starting this coming Monday July 10. If you are registered, watch for an email with more details. Our Monday and Wednesday morning ZOOM classes , 10am to noon California time,  will continue as is. So if you would like to join us please get in touch right away .  And also, these Zoom classes are recorded so if you prefer doing the viewing and painting on your own time, you are welcome to be a Video Artist with us.....and you will receive the Video Recording after each class. Then you can upload and request feedback in our private Facebook Group, as you wish. We have been drawing and painting flowers all of June, and this month of July we will be continuing the theme (how could we let all that hard work go to waste, right?) so the little shift in perspective is to paint Flowers to the Edge of the paper, canvas, etc. so instead of this..... try painting this! or i

The Ever-Soothing Past-time - and a few Vessels

Call me crazy, but I tell you, this sitting calmy in complete quiet, stitching away for hours, has become a deeply therapeutic experience for me. I took a bad whack to the head in the beginning of May, sustained a concussion and have been dealing with bouts of vertigo since. So being Still is healing, a Quiet that my soul and body seem to be craving. Meanwhile, I do plan on putting together a couple of stand alone workshops, but this Head Bump set me back a bit.  Sorry for the delay.  So stay tuned....One workshop will be a painting one....4 hours, with a lunchbreak, via Zoom. Let me know if you would prefer a Pet Portrait or Flower Painting workshop for this first one, ok??? The other workshop I have already written the lessons for is a Begin at the Beginning Slow Stitching one. This will also be via Zoom, about 4 hours with lunch break included. Stitching is not only calming and soothing, but wow - with its skillset, it's doggone practical too. We are talking fun artsy things
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