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.
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.
Such thoughtful words, Lydia! I have long admired Dawn's watercolors and have several Wplus9 stamps and dies that I just love. Her words are so inspiring... and your illustration is a perfect reminder. Sandy keeps reminding us that we are all artists. With all of this great inspiration, we will just keep growing! It was such fun to watch everyone having fun at your retreat! I loved your group Periscope! I'm sure you are eager to be back in your studio creating beautiful works of art, dear Lydia! ♡Dawn@Petals.Paper.SimpleThymes
ReplyDeleteLove your artistic circle of life! I play piano and I craft and a million other things, like everyone else. I always figured that it is unlikely that any of us will ever be the 'best' at anything - there can only be one, right? But we can all be our best self.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. So glad to be on the artistic journey with you. I love how your leaf looks. It made me think of the mosaic video I shared with you on facebook. Love the colors you used on this leaf.
ReplyDeleteLove this post and I'm so glad you shared Dawn's words, Lydia! ♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteDear Lydia, Thank you so much sweet girl for posting this revelation... I am your fan... I am a fan of your work but more importantly what you are made of... I first started following you on periscope.. your calm control of your voice and how you did not loose focus of what you were periscoping about all the while TEACHING us... I am a fan of you realism.. I too cuss sometimes and yet I am a CHILD of GOD... I think He has a sense of humor.. he made us after all.. and I am a fan of your humor... and just the all around GREAT HUMAN BEING that truly cares about people that you are.. I sincerely hope you have an awesome day... and thanks for letting me be an admirer of YOU!
ReplyDeleteDawn is pretty awesome. So are you ♡ I'm so glad we got to spend some together. Love your card!
ReplyDeleteSo appreciating your post today on the stages we are all in with our creativity. So helpful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shirl
Super artsy timeline of growth...Great to know simply being ME is just as important as encouraging others at every stage of their creative journey. It is SOOOO exciting to find a newbie talent and watch them grow:))) into their own success!
ReplyDeleteLovely leaf Mosaic:)
Your art space/time continuum is fantastic, what a great reminder. :-) And Dawn is fantastic! And so is your card!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!!!! Love your chart. Amazing watercolor from Dawn Woleslagle. I saw your card on SCS and came over to see how you created it. I am glad I did! Some very good thoughts in this post. For some reason, this time of year I begin to grow weary and I find that it expresses itself in artsy insecurities so this really spoke to me.....
ReplyDelete"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...."
That's what I love about SCS. We encourage one another with admiration and respect which makes us reach higher to be better artists and kinder people too!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your beautiful artwork!