A couple days ago, I signed up for an online workshop with Suzi Blu. You may not know who she is, you may find her annoying, but her message is always wonderful and inspiring. I’m taking her class for a bit of a jump start after 2 years of oppression from a rather regimented and bureaucratic art school- and if you visit her blog, you’ll know she’s anything but an elitist.
The workshop is called “The Goddess and The Poet.” It’s an art journaling class where we’ll be working on more realistic looking portraits and incorporating poetry with the images. She’s calling for a halt of the mundane when we create something beautiful in our journals. You know: When a drawing “clicks” and it looks and feels perfect, transcendent, even otherworldly – and then we go add a grocery list off to the side. She’s encouraging folks to add beautiful words beyond the endless list of Most Quoted Quotes and inspirational phrases. Words that come from within ourselves. I’m excited about the information I should learn from her. I enjoy the various methods and techniques she includes in her work, so I hope it will rub off on my creative process.
Inspired by the idea behind her workshop, I googled around and found a brilliant quarterly magazine called Poets and Artists. The website has online archives with some amazing contemporary artists’ work and interviews. Not only is full of thought-provoking poetry and both technically and conceptually fascinating paintings, it’s also a way to see what other artists are making right now. This is important for artists who are aspiring to join the gallery and art show world. You need to see where you fit in, and how you stand out from the crowd. So look, learn and be inspired. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
http://www.poetsandartists.com/
A brief quote from Stacie Boschma’s poem “North of Moab”:
In 48 hours, you’ll pull away from Denver for a
1300 mile express spectacular through Kansas, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. You’ll make
this trip alone and friendless and it’ll be months
before you remember how it feels to be you.
Just free-flowing words that aptly describe my state of mind and how I feel right now. So check out Poets and Artists. You’ll find something good there to be inspired by.