Artist Angie Follensbee-Hall, who lives in Vermont, is a mixed media artist who makes her own paper as the base for her creations. She adds natural materials that she finds in her yard, then adds paint and other materials to the finished paper. Angie also teaches classes, particularly one called The Creative Process in Art, where she talks about how creativity is so vital to our well-being. She recently hung a gallery show of her handmade paper wall hangings. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher. Angie Follensbee-Hall Embrace Your Future Narrow Pass Window Light Dreams In the Moonlit Silence of Night Bluebook Chattering and Filled with Wonder Angie's website is angiefollensbeehall.com. She is on Instagram @angiefollhall. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: Angie makes paper to use in her art. When you’re making one of your art supplies, make it in batches so you will have a lot to use in future projects. She makes paper about once a month for her art. When making paper, she lets the individual pages dry on sheets of Plexiglas. That keeps them flatter than if she was drying them on felt. I’m thinking this might be a good suggestion for watercolor artists. Rather than covering your work surface with a plastic sheet to protect it when you paint, Plexiglas would probably work better. Plus you could pick up the Plexiglas and move it to another table to let the watercolor page dry while you are working on a new piece. Gesso is used to create another layer as she’s adding things to her handmade paper. It can be used as a glue too and she can adhere other things with it, like antique lace doilies. Think about whether you want to frame your art or not and whether you want it to be behind glass. This is a decision only you can make, but you need to factor that in when finishing your art. For Angie’s handmade paper art, she didn’t want it behind glass because she wanted people to really see the texture of the piece. When Angie teaches creativity classes, she asks her students to purchase a journal, but one with a boring cover. She’s found that if they buy cool pretty ones, then they’ll be afraid to write in it. Don’t every buy one that is too pretty to write in. Angie believes that when we are creative, we have a better sense of our purpose. Also, being creative is different for everyone. Don’t compare your life to others when it comes to how you are creative. Creativity is like a muscle. You have to do it regularly to keep it going, and you don’t just do it only when you feel like it. Taking online classes is safer during covid, but it’s also safer if you’re a little intimidated walking into a class of people you don’t know. Instead, you can just take the class in your own home, even with your…

Artist Brittany Soucy lives on the seacoast of New Hampshire, where she has a separate barn that is her studio. For Brittany, being artistic is a pleasure and a sacred responsibility. She paints in oils, creating abstracts and landscapes that are inspired by her surroundings. She offers online classes through her website that include art journaling using acrylics and mixed media. This past year she has concentrated on painting as well as taking business classes. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher. Brittany Soucy Brittany's website is brittanysoucy.com. She is on Instagram @brittsoucy. Her online classes can be found here. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: Brittany paints with oils, but she does the underpainting with acrylics because it dries much faster. You can put oils on top of acrylics but not acrylics on top of oils. When Brittany first started using oils, the smell gave her headaches. She found that it was the brush cleaner that was the culprit, and she switched to Chelsea Classic Studio brand with a lavender scent. We talked about how artists need to take some business classes because they’re going to most likely be self-employed. She mentioned that some artists offer business classes so even if college is a long time ago for you, you can find some relevant classes that can help you now. She mentioned Emily Jeffords’ business class and I mentioned Jeanne Oliver’s business class. Brittany does landscapes, some abstracts, and occasionally figures. She just goes with what she feels like painting at the time and doesn’t stick to one thing. You should create what you want to create and not try to be something you’re not. Some of Brittany’s paintings are hanging at businesses on a rental basis. If any piece sells, then the renter would get a portion from the payment. This is a great way to get your artwork seen and make a little money. Local art associations are a great way to meet other artists and find some classes to take. Brittany passed on some advice she got from Jeanne Oliver when she was making her first online class. Jeanne said that some artists can talk while they paint and some can’t, but that’s O.K. Just create the class in the way that suits you best. Art journaling is a great way to try new things and not feel the same pressure you would when you’re painting on a canvas. You can just create in a journal, then turn the page and no one needs to see it.

California artist Andrea Garvey paints beautiful whimsical florals and figures. Her paintings have many layers and are made with acrylic paint and inks. She’s only been painting full time for three years, but already she’s teaching what she knows in online classes. During the pandemic, she also started painting during Facebook Live events. She now has a thriving Creative Community on Facebook. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher. Andrea Garvey Summer Blossoms Capitola Beach Serenity Tomorrow's Hope Blooming Bouquet Andrea's Layered Petals online class starts on February 12, 2021 and is available for purchase now. See link below. A page from Andrea's art journal The Whimsical Elephant online class Andrea's art studio Andrea's website is andreagarvey.com. Her online classes can be found here. Her newest class is called Layered Petals. You can sign up for that right now with special early pricing. The class begins on February 12th. All the details are found right on the Home page of her website. Her Facebook community is called the Andrea Garvey Creative Community.  Andrea is on Instagram @andreagarveyart Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: This first tip goes out to the younger people out there. Andrea suggests that you take some business classes when you can so you can get into a business mindset. As an artist, you’ll most likely always be self-employed, and you need to know about setting up a business and doing your own accounting and marketing. Andrea started painting after her mother-in-law died and she had a dream about a painting. She worked on the painting for two months. She suggests that doing something creative can help others through the grieving process, as it helped her. After Andrea made her first painting, she started taking classes from other artists to learn more. She mentioned a few and I’ll put their links in the Show Notes for Andrea’s episode. They are Jane Davenport, Tracy Verdugo, Alena Hennessy, and Betty Franks. Many artists offer online classes too, so you can still learn while we aren’t doing things in person as much. I’ve said this many times on this podcast, and I’ll say it again. The only way to get better at your art is to practice, practice, practice. Andrea gave herself a challenge to draw a flower a day for a year. Doing something like that will definitely get you better at making art. Andrea said she learned something from artist Ardith Goodwin about trying to come up with your artistic style. Ardith suggested going back to the kind of art you made when you were very young and examine that. You may find the colors or motifs that you like to use. I interviewed Ardith in Episode #51 and she goes into great detail about how she found her style. You can listen to that episode here. Make what you like, and don’t worry if you like many things. It’s O.K. to make many different subjects, no matter what art you do.…

Flora Bowley is a painter, instructor, and author. Her new book comes out in March called The Art of Aliveness. She’s spent years traveling and teaching, and her classes have expanded to include so much more than painting, like music and movement to help her students embrace their creativity. Her next online class is a 30-day creativity class that ends with a 4-day virtual retreat. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher. Flora Bowley Solace, 48"x48" Mirror Class set up for painting and yoga Sunrise Sunset REUNITE class begins January 18, 2021 The Art of Aliveness, Flora's newest book will come out March, 2021 Winterwash, 48"x48" Deep Peace I Will Stand by You Flora's website is florabowley.com. Her online classes, including REUNITE which begins January 18, 2021, can be found  here. Look for her book titled The Art of Aliveness in March, 2021. Flora can also be found on Facebook and Instagram. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: When Flora talks about her painting, she makes a distinction between her style and her philosophy. She has a certain style, but she wants to teach people philosophy that is, to learn to let go and let the painting unfold naturally. At the start of her classes, she often does an exercise where she asks her students to paint with their eyes closed. What she’s found is that the best paintings come from the feeling space rather than the visual space. She will turn on music and encourage people to just paint with the hands. The paintings end up freer and more expressive this way. Flora doesn’t want to bog down her students with too much instruction and rules, but she has realized that she needs to teach them a little bit about color theory so that they don’t put wet paint on wet and end up with muddy brown colors. She teaches them about cool colors and warm colors, and if you don’t mix them or layer them while they’re still wet, then you won’t get the mud colors. She recommends that you get 2-3 paintings going at once. This will give you a chance to stop with one, and work on another while you’re waiting for the first to dry. She’s also found that for most beginner painters, their paintings will get to a point where they don’t like them and they don’t know where to go next. She’s said that this happens all the time and they just need to keep painting, perhaps on a second or third painting to give themselves a break from the first. Usually when you go back to the first, you’re seeing it with fresh eyes and you now know what you’re next step or color should be. When setting up her painting area, she will put her canvas right on the wall, using two screws to hang it. She’s found that walls are more stable than easels, and the canvas hangs flat rather than at an angle.…

Lianne van Leyen, who lives in Ontario, Canada, is a fiber artist who collects antique stitched samplers. She reproduces them into patterns that others can buy and stitch themselves. Her business is called 1897 Schoolhouse Samplers because she lives in an old one-room schoolhouse. Lianne also works at a living history museum, where she demonstrates cross stitch, quilting, and cooking. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher. Lianne van Leyen The 1897 Schoolhouse where Lianne and her husband live. Students at the 1897 Schoolhouse Stitched Samplers 1851 sampler pattern 1851 Pattern Back Cover Mary Ann Burton sampler The 1897 Schoolhouse in Autumn Lianne as a historical domestic interpreter and cook at Upper Canada Village Lianne's website is called 1897schoolhousesamplers.ca She offers some free sampler patterns on her website here. Her sampler patterns are sold wholesale to Hoffman Distributing. You can find stores that carry her patterns all over the world on their website. Lianne is a historical domestic interpreter at Upper Canada Village in Ontario, Canada. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: Lianne is a collector of stitched samplers. In some cases, the samplers have the girl’s name stitched into it, and sometimes the date. It tells her so much more when she knows when a sampler was completed. This is something to think about when you are making art to give away or sell. I would definitely suggest you put your name on it and you may even want to put the date it was completed so that the new owner, and possibly subsequent owners will know more about when it was made. You may not be thinking of your art as something that will be passed on for years, but you really should. Think about the materials you use so that your art will last for a long time. For painters, that may mean spraying or brushing a finish on it to protect it from dust and fading. For jewelers, that may mean using a coated metal that won’t tarnish. For paper artists, you may consider using only archival papers that won’t fade or discolor over time. Lianne creates her patterns using PC Stitch, which is a cross stitch software. One of Lianne’s tried and true techniques when she is recreating a sampler is to walk away from it when she gets stumped. That’s great advice for all artists. If the colors don’t feel right, step away, and look back at it over the next few days, and chances are the colors that really feel right will come to you. Lianne has chosen to offer her sampler patterns only through a distributor. She used to sell them retail, but now just sells them wholesale to that company. This is a good option for her because they can get them in individual shops all over the world. This is something you will want to consider if you make things like patterns, prints, or merchandise. A lot of artists teach their art skills. Another…