The Joy of Inspiration

        It is 2017 already , Where did the time go ?  If you are like me life happens and we all get busy doing "good busy things".  I am grateful for my family and for all the opportunities God has placed  in my path , now the question is How do I get my creative life back onto my priority list ?  Not that it ever left but fell way down on the priority list as it should be for me .
        Here are some things I am doing and have done to get my creative juices  flowing . I hope you find them helpful .

       I am using a Stillman & Birn  Alpha soft covered sketchbook lately after a recommendation from Liz Steel . I love it , it is light and good quality paper for pen and ink sketches and light watercolor washes . I like the 8x10 size as well as the smaller 8x5 as it fits in my city backpack.   I am calling these books " My Workbook Sketchbook " leaving my Canson Montval Sketchbooks for traveling .

     Keeping your sketchbook readily available will make using it easier . I use mine as a journal and try to put something in it everyday , did you notice the word try ?  I don't beat myself up if I don't get to it.
     If I have not planned painting time at your easel and don't know how to get started, I love ,
 You Tube segments. there are so many free artist demo's online to inspire you . I find if I watch a few I am ready to jump into doing my own art .  Search artist you like by name or ask " How to paint skies in Watercolor "as see what comes up .

    I love going through the art books I have from John Sargent to John Yardley and many in between. I copy the paintings I like with a note @ Charles Sovek for example  , taking  notes and keep them in a practice box so I can refer back to them. How did they do that ? Can I make that color with my limited palette ? You will learn so much doing this and after one or two I find myself ready to make my own art.

   I love doing Robert Wade's postcard size practices .  I  teach these during class , so much fun to do and learn from . They are on his dvd Wade's Watercolor Wisdom.

  Craftsy online is a wonderful place to take reasonable priced classes .Craftsy  The classes once purchased can be watched on an iPad and are yours to view over and over .

   I also love Drawing Tip Tuesday by Koosje Koene on You Tube , fun tips and inspiration for sketching and making art . Draw Tip Tuesday

 How did I originally get into the sketching habit  ? Sketchbook Skool  , a fun online site for inspiring sketching classes .Sketchbook Skool

I also use google images a lot. Google ImagesThere are tons of artist reference photos available especially if you have been to a place before to paint from. I also like their clip art to make cards.

Well, I ran out of space so I will leave this here and will get back to you when other things come to my mind to help you . Please feel free to email me or FaceTime me with any questions .