The Art Space / Time Continuum

I got to spend some time this weekend with some crafty friends I really admire.

One of them is a phenomenal watercolor artist and an entrepreneur - Dawn Woleslagle, who owns Wplus9.

She said something that really made me think.

A lot of people are in awe of her talent and tell her. Her teaching style is super approachable - and she is a kindred spirit in that she tells people to experiment and stop worrying about perfection in their art.

But she said that for someone first learning to watercolor, she might seem like the absolute best painter in the world. (at this point I was telling her she WAS! :) ). But then she said, in comparison to people who have painted professionally their whole careers, or have work in galleries in Santa Fe, her work would be considered amateur.

As a huge fan, I wanted to disagree with her, but it really was a great moment about the learning cycle that we all go through while we're trying to get better at what we do, and understand that all art exists on a sliding scale.

So I drew out a little art space/time continuum on a Project Life card on the plane home today.

I'm pretty sure my row mates thought I was a terrorist, but I had been up since 3 AM and didn't really care what they thought. After just a few hours of sleep I think everyone feels like a terrorist anyway.
 

I love her humility and reality check on this. We are all somewhere on that line, and it's important to know that there is both respect and admiration ahead of us, and that there is also respect and admiration behind us. It's up to each of us to pull each other along this line, and make sure that everyone knows there are fans behind us and models in front of us. She's a cool chick.

 Here's a sample of her work.

Amazing.

Now I'm a wee bit late on posting my Hope You Can Cling To cards because I've been gone, but I'm ready to catch up, so get ready for a lot of posts!

This card is for Cathy's challenge called I Am A Warrior. Cathy lost her sister to breast cancer, so this card drive is very meaningful for her and she's a fantastic host. Be sure and play along and give her some encouragement!

I did emboss resist with Lighthearted Leaves and Brusho. Then I made a card base from Fabriano Cold Press Watercolor paper, and did a background wash on it with QOR Payne's Grey - which is my absolute favorite neutral in the world. Perhaps because it has a blue tint.

To me it looks like Indian Corn and since the challenge said we could use a Native American theme I thought it was perfect.

The sentiment is from the uber fabulous Watercolor Wishes kit. 

So hello. :)

Hope you can join us in the challenges, and remember to admire & respect creative people wherever they might be on the art space/time continuum. 

Loveyameanitbye.