A busy week

I have to say that retirement for me has not been a time for slacking.  Admittedly, my days are very different than when I was teaching.  I especially love not waking to an alarm clock.  And the glorious September weather we have been experiencing in the Pacific Northwest  for the past 8 weeks is, in itself, a reason to get up singing every morning.  But I have other things to sing about.  Since August, I have signed up for three e-courses all about art.  The first one was a 5 week course (mostly videos, with some written interaction) about using different types of mediums in art.  It was called Supplies Me, by Jane Davenport, a mixed media artist in Australia.   Right up my alley, since I have this huge learning curve going taking in all the new mediums there are to use... like dabbers, spray inks, distressed inks, and who knew that Sharpie has an amazing "Paint" marker?  I love it in white.  You will find Sharpie White Paint marker on everything I do probably (at least in the eyeball area).

The second class is just about to start it's third week.  This is Kelly Rae Roberts Flying Lessons class that will also last about 5 weeks.  In this class she talks about the path she took to becoming a successful artist by using the internet to promote/showcase her work.   Her class in itself has opened doors for me to a HOST of amazing artists from all over the world.  I am now following  artists from Australia, France, Burma!, England, Canada and the US.  Amazingly this e-course has attracted over 650 people.  It doesn't take a genius to do the math.  Could a retired teacher of 30 years find a niche on the internet with e-courses?  Ahhhh!  The opportunities are limitless.
NOT that that is my niche.

In my thirst for knowledge to know everything everyone else knows about mixed media, I have come across a few artists that I particularly like.  One of these is Misty Mawn who happens to also have an e-course called Art Journey.  OK... it's my LAST one for awhile, but I had to sign up.  I haven't had time to do anything except peek, but ooolala... it looks fantastic.  All of these courses are self-paced and though the lessons would take 5 weeks to get through if you worked at it every day, one could take time to get through them.  Which I will do for this class.  I think I may want to BE her.  In fact why don't you take a peek at her website and let me know what you think.    And while you are looking at those links, my other favorite artist is  at PBs Art Studio.  I just bought two of her pieces.  This one called "They all thought she was scandalous" I bought in a print:














And the other one, called Dare to Dream,  I couldn't seem to get a copy of but this is the link to it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbsartstudio/7435466134/
I bought the original of that.  They are IN THE MAIL to me.  So excited!
Cute cute art... perfect for the whimsy of my studio life.

UPDATE:   Just got them in the mail and they are cuter than the pix online.  Thank you Patti Ballard at PBs Art Studio.  Here's the Dare to Dream one.  It is done on a piece of wood.. 4" X 12".

So there you have it... I am very busy with a brand new passion.  Life is good, lovely and mostly kind.

I have been so busy reading posts, blogs, e-course materials and getting my new Facebook "business" page up, that I have not finished a lot of work this week.  But I did finish this one entitled:  Dreaming Exceptionally Large:

Thank you all for your encouragement and wonderful comments.  I appreciate them all!