{art and hope…}

How do you process ideas?

I tend to process outloud. I talk and talk and listen and try to figure out what I'm thinking, feeling, and how things go together. I do this with my family, Mr Gorgeous, my best friends, my kiddos…pretty much anyone who will listen AND talk back! LOL!! (sorry, cats, you are out of luck!!)

As a matter of fact, this blog is me processing through my life and my work. Fabric is such a dreamy part of my life right now, and I love the way it speaks to me.

Embroidery + fabric lets me interpret what I hear, read, meditate on…

But along with that, I want to learn other mediums to explore other ways of speaking hope!!

I love paper and paint and paintbrushes and canvases…

I know I've mentioned online classes that I've been taking, including the Studying the Masters: Becoming an Apprentice before. It is a fabulous class filled (really filled) with many lessons, artist inspiration and awesome launching points for art.

For me, when I signed up for it in March, I had a couple of artists that I loved and I wanted to watch their teaching style and see what they chose to teach on, etc. But as I got into the videos, I realized it was sooooo much more in depth.

It is basically 9 mini journeys (9-week class) you can go on to discover different techniques on how to express yourself through art! At the time (in March), I was getting ready for our vacation and getting things together for the end of school, so I put the class on the back burner.

My empty canvases have been calling to me! (Or my ADD is kicking in!!!) I'm publicly declaring that I'm going on a 9 week journey (that may take 12 weeks! LOL!!) to discover new ways to express my love for my God and the world He has put me in right now (for such a time as this!!).

And as I start getting my supplies together, I can't help but think of my wonderful dad who also painted for fun!

He was truly a renaissance man, and it gives me hope to look around my house and see his art work hanging up and know that it's okay for me to dabble in new things once in a while!!

The cool thing about this class is that I have access to it for 2 years, so it's okay for me to take it slowly and really ponder the journey while I'm on it! I'm not in a hurry to get to that end result in this medium…it's here for me to discover new ways to express the HOPE that the Lord has put into the depths of my soul!!