Karin Wanderer Learns

I use watercolor, ink, & Krita to paint flora & fauna & fanart. Self-taught & still learning; no AI/no ads.

Today we are talking about making bread art, which is exactly what it sounds like. This ephemeral art looks good & tastes great- who could ask for anything more?

A loaf of focaccia in a round baking dish decorated with purple & white onions with shishito peppers sliced & arranged to look like a flower, baked light golden brown. Red & white onions with shishito peppers

Which Bread Recipe Should I Use?

Whatever you want! I used the focaccia #recipe from The Joy of Cooking for the bread in the photos, but any yeasted bread should work. I've even made it with Wolfe3D's pizza dough recipe (Bake 30ish minutes @ 400 F (205 c))! I believe that a thick quickbread batter (like cornbread) would work, but I have not had time to test that idea. Don’t want to make any kind of bread dough? You don’t have to. Pick up a premade pizza dough at the supermarket & go wild!

Photo of a slice of focaccia, with a lovely crumb. Focaccia dough makes great pizza & pizza dough makes great focaccia

It’s so easy!

Lots of different herbs & vegetables can be used for bread art. The examples in this article use red, green, & white onions, as well as bell & shishito peppers. Experiment with whatever you’ve got! Just keep a few things in mind…

Think Thin

Slice those veggies extremely thin. As you can see in the picture below, the purple flower was made with big thick pieces of red onion. As you can see in the picture just below that, the purple flower pretty much fell apart as the onion pieces roasted & shrank. The red pepper pieces were much thinner & they shrank much less. Photo of 3 loaves of focaccia decorated with raw vegetables, about to go into the oven. Loaf 1: circular loaf with a simple mandala made from green onions & red peppers. Loaf 2: small rectangular loaf using red & green onions to look like irises. Loaf 3 : small rectangular loaf using red peppers & green onions to look like tulips. Test 1: Unbaked

Stay Cool

Soak your cut veggies in ice water, drying thoroughly before you arrange them on your dough. This keeps the vegetables from shrinking & twisting so much. In the picture below, the greens in the round pan were not soaked & have shriveled quite a bit, while the greens in the rectangular pans were soaked in ice water & have shrunk much less.

Photo of 3 loaves of focaccia, baked to golden brown. Loaf 1: circular loaf with a simple mandala made from green onions & red peppers. Loaf 2: small rectangular loaf using red & green onions to look like irises. Loaf 3 : small rectangular loaf using red peppers & green onions to look like tulips. Test 1: Baked

Use Science!

Squeeze half a lemon into your ice water. This will keep your greens green instead of brown! It seems to have a slight brightening effect on other vegetables as well.

Use the Right Tools

A sharp knife makes your job much easier. You could also use a mandolin or vegetable peeler for those very thin slices. Take your time & get all your veggies prepped, soaked, & drying on a clean dish towel before you start decorating. Poke your toppings into the dough firmly; I like to use a chopstick. If they are just sitting on top of the bread the design will explode & your thinner greens may burn, no matter how well you soaked them.

1 round & 4 small loaves of golden brown focaccia, decorated with produce. The round one has a mandala made with red peppers & red & green onions. The rectangular ones have a mess of sliced onions that were supposed to look like flowers. Ask me how I know!

What Do You Think?

Will you make your own bread art? I hope so! I want to see what delicious art you make Mastodon Bluesky

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s time for a new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! How has it been 2 weeks already? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess.

New #KWPrompts: #OldArtNewWork

I have spent this past month making faces. While humans are still my least favorite animal, they are at least a little more fun to draw now than they were before. Comparing my current drawings to ones I made earlier made me want to redo my work so much, I decided to spend the next 2 weeks doing just that. I will be remaking a lot of my older drawings & paintings, especially animals. Join me!

Pencil sketch of woman wearing sunglasses & a headband to hold back her long hair. The original version, an idea drawn several times but never quite right

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is Old Art, New Work Take something you made & remake it.

Digital drawing of a stylized woman wearing sunglasses & a head band to hold back her long hair. The updated version. I might make it into a print- what do you think?

You can change the colors! You can change the medium! Turn a sketch into a painting! Turn a sculpture into a poem! Turn a lino print into a cake! Keep everything pretty much the same & just try making it again with all your updated skills! However you want to re-imagine old artwork is up to you Show me how you think!

#KWPrompts #Face

Use #KWPrompts #OldArtNewWork &/or tag me @KarinWanderer so I see your art!

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No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

February is for Faces

I’m on a mission to draw 29 faces in 29 days! I got a bit lonely on this mission, so I made it into a 2-week art challenge we can all do together.

Join me for the second week of #KWPrompts: #Face drawing challenge Show me how you think! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

A small child with hair up in twin buns looks just past the viewer. She is bundled up in a pink scarf & a purple puffy jacket.

Would you like to know more about drawing faces? No problem! This article you’re reading right now has valuable info! Would you like to know even more? Read Part 1: There Go I But For My Face

And as always…

Practice, Practice, Practice!

No matter what method you use to draw people, you always need to practice! Is drawing a whole face too intimidating? Draw it in small parts.

Digital drawings of disembodied eyes, lips, & half a face in profile from the brow line to the upper lip. The best type of practice is the type you actually do

Start with a frame

There are a lot of ways to frame out a face. Try as many different ways as you can find. You might just be surprised by what method works out for you! If you have a reference photo you like, draw wireframes over & over. This helps you see how the facial proportions work together. If you are working digitally it is very easy to layer the different wireframes to see how your different iterations line up. If you are working physically you can do the same with very thin papers & either a light box or a bright window.

Wireframe outline of a woman facing to the side. The body lines are drawn in orange, the face is roughed in using green. Wireframe outline of a woman facing slightly to the left of the viewer.

Attack of the Clones

Once you have a wireframe you like: use it, use it, use it! This is easy if you work digitally. If you work physically, trace it a few times. Using the same wireframe over & over again helps you see how everything comes together. It also is fun to see how differently you can make people look in spite of starting them from the same wireframe.

Wireframe outline of a woman facing the viewer. The body lines are drawn in orange, the face is roughed in using green. I don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this wireframe.

Digital drawing of a woman looking calmly at the viewer. Her curly black hair is worn up under a wide-brimmed blue hat tilted to one side. She wears a purple necklace & earrings. Her body rapidly disappears from the collarbone down. I really don’t want to admit how many versions I’ve drawn of this woman.

Reference Photo vs. Live Model

Drawing with a photo is easy! The subject holds still, indefinitely, so that you can really take your time & pay attention to detail. Drawing a live model is easy! The subject is actually there, so you can look at them from a few different angles & even ask them to pose differently if you like. Drawing with a photo is hard; the angle/lens distortion can really mess up things like perspective/foreshortening that are already difficult, especially for beginners. Drawing a live model is hard; people can’t just hold still & let you practice forever. Think about what pros & cons are most important for you. Try drawing from photos, videos, & from life to see what you like the most. This will depend on your temperament, your resources, your experience & your art style. Everyone will be different!

What do you think? Do you like drawing people? Do you have any favorite tips & tricks? Please, share them with me! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

New #KWPrompts: #Face

It’s that time again! A new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! I have been thinking a lot about faces lately. Join me! Digital drawing of Lunella Lafayette a.k.a. Moon Girl studying. She has an apple juice box on the table next to her. Devil Dinosaur's giant red scales fill the background.

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is #Face. Don’t want to draw a whole face? That’s OK too. Leave off the ears, just draw the nose, any face you want! Monochrome ink black painting depicts curly-bearded man smiling so big his eyes are closed.

Show Us Your Face!

Want help with faces? Read last week’s KWL!

Check them out & share your own!

#KWPrompts #Face

Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Mastodon Bluesky IG

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed. Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week! 2 pencil sketches: 1 is a little girl with her hair in twin buns. Most of her face is hidden in a scarf. 2 is a stylized person with an enormous head of curls framing their face, shown in profile.

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

February is for Faces

I love drawing & painting animals. I could paint them all day long, & sometimes I do! Jungle animals, desert animals, marine animals- all animals are interesting to paint. Well, almost all.

I may have mentioned a time or six that humans are my least favorite animal. Humans don’t have pretty scales or plumage, they have fingers instead of fins, feet instead of flukes… essentially all the animal features I enjoy drawing are missing from humans. In my quest to get better anyway, I spend one month each year drawing humans. In my quest to avoid drawing humans, I choose the shortest month of the year. Last year I focused on drawing whole people, this year I am focused on faces.

Pencil sketch of Avatar Aang: a happy bald boy with an arrow tattooed on his head that is pointing down towards his nose.

People Proportions

There are a lot of rules bouncing around the art world when it comes to human proportions. Things like “Human adults are 8 heads tall, children are 6, & infants are 3” are repeated so often people will follow them without thinking. It is important to remember that these are more like guidelines; one thing every human has in common is that we are all different.

Appearance Advice

With all that in mind, here are some guidelines for human faces. * There are lots of different ways to lay out the foundations of a face. Many are based on ovals and lines.

Some are simple: Before & After Pencil Sketches. Before: Wire frame of a human figure sits at a table resting its head on its hand. After: A cute & somewhat bored little girl with big eyes & hair in a high bun sits at a table resting her head on her hand. She stares off into space, daydreaming.

Some are more involved: Pencil drawing of the first three steps to drawing a human face. Step 1: Split an oval into 4 equal quarters with 2 perpendicular lines Step 2: Add a line slightly above the middle horizontal line (this is the eye line.) Add a line half way between the middle and the bottom of the face (nose line.) Add a line slightly below that one (mouth line.) Step 3: Draw a narrow triangle extending from the top set of double lines down through the chin. Pencil drawing of the last three steps to drawing a human face. Step 4: The inner corners of the eyes line up with the outer corners of the nose, where the triangle crosses the nose line. Step 6: Finishing details like hair. I prefer the simpler ones, how about you? * Foreshortening is hard, especially when drawing humans. A suggestion I have seen over & over is to draw a basic face on a hard-boiled egg & use that for reference. I haven’t tried this yet, but I might before the month is over! * Drawing a face using the Front View, aka facing straight out at the viewer, is very hard! All the features are visible, everything needs to be relatively symmetrical, it’s very easy to get frustrated. * If you get stumped, do yourself a favor & try Profile (side) or Three-Quarter Views instead. Watercolor woman wearing a blue coat & green hat carrying a red purse while walking away. The wind is pulling strands of black hair out of her bun. Or, skip the face entirely and focus on a subject looking away from you.

What do you think? Do you like drawing people? Do you have any favorite tips & tricks? Please, share them with me! Mastodon Bluesky Ko-Fi

See you next week! Pencil sketch of woman wearing sunglasses & a head band to hold back her long hair.

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

New #KWPrompts: #Birds

It’s that time again! A new prompt for my bi-weekly art challenge! I have been thinking a lot about birds lately. Join me! Watercolor duck walking past groups of people who pay it no mind.

I Had A Visitor Recently

Photo of a falcon perched on a power line, looking off to the side. This gorgeous friend came & peered in my window the other day. I have been drawing birds ever since! I think this is a Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

Put A Bird On It!

For the next 2 weeks my art prompt theme is birds. Show me your birds! Don’t want to draw a whole bird? That’s OK too Watercolor branch with a bird of prey's talon clutching it (rest of bird is not pictured).

The Boy & the Heron

Starting this art challenge was one of my new year’s resolutions. Another resolution was to use art to motivate myself to leave the house more. This might sound silly, but I am agoraphobic so bribing myself to go out is necessary! This month my art excursion was going to a movie theater to watch the latest Studio Ghibli movie. It was gorgeous, & it had so many, many birds in it! I’ve never seen a Ghibli movie on the big screen before. I am so happy that I finally did! (#NotSponsored) Pencil sketches of 2 long feathers.

Show Us Your Birds

Want more birds? You’re in luck!I posted new pictures of birds with the art prompt at the links below. Check them out & share your own!

#KWPrompts #Birds

Tag me @KarinWanderer &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

Mastodon Bluesky IG (IG users please be sure to @Karin.Wanderer, IG does not show me people who only use the #)

Have a fantastic day, draw something for my art challenge, see you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Join us for #ArtABCs, the best art challenge on the internet!

Find me

  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s Karin Wanderer Learns’ birthday!

KWL is 1 year old!

1 year! 52 whole weeks! When I started this blog, I didn’t even have a title card! Now I do – in fact, I just recently designed a new one! It is a self portrait in the style of Tomie dePaola, one of my favorite illustrators.

Watercolor & ink painting of a pale woman with short green hair smiling as she holds a paintbrush & a piece of paper nearly as big as herself. The table behind her is covered in art supplies & mysterious bottles.

I started this blog because I needed a place to archive all the arty things I learn. Explaining something to someone else is an easy way to reinforce your own knowledge while spotting areas that need to be explored more deeply. I chose to shout my explanations into the WriteFreely void rather than talking my friends’ & families' ears off, & I am so glad I did! (They probably are, too.) Originally I was writing articles about whatever amused me and the articles were pretty short. Things quickly grew until I was doing things like writing a whole series of longer articles about #WatercolorScience & the history of Sumi. I'm not complaining- I love learning & writing about art! I kind of have to love it to keep KWL going- no one is paying me to do this. (Though they could be!) It takes a lot of time to research things, process them, & then write about them. Part of that is definitely on me, though. I type slowly.

If you had told me a year ago that I would still be writing weekly art articles, I probably would have said “yeah, that sounds like me. This is fun & I am nothing if not a creature of habit.” Now if you had told me that I would use the 1 year anniversary to shake things up, I might not have believed you. I should have believed, though. Change is coming!

In fact, it’s already here…

Last week, I started a new art challenge: #KWPrompts, brought to you most places prompts are posted:

Mastodon Bluesky IG

The challenge is very laid-back, I’m only putting a new prompt out every other Tuesday, so you have a whole 2 weeks to participate. Or go ahead & draw something for an outdated prompt. If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad!

“But Karin” you say “KWL comes out on Tuesdays! How will you handle writing a mind-blowingly stunning article AND a soul-rendingly heartfelt art prompt AT THE SAME TIME?!??” And that’s the best part- I don’t!

Going forward, I will be alternating between releasing either a new article or a new art prompt on Tuesdays. I’m going to have so much more time for activities! #KWPrompts was one of my New Year’s resolutions. Actually, it was 1 of 2 resolutions that related to KWL directly…

Calling All Artists!

You may have noticed that I have a nice, small section of articles on Featured Artists. I want that section to grow & grow! Lately I got sidetracked learning about brilliant author Tomie dePaola & trying to read all his books, which is a tall order- there are over 200! (Big thanks to my local library system, I could never have read dozens of dePaola books without their help!) I want to write about more artists, & maybe interview current artists instead of just researching & writing about people on my own? If there is an artist (or you are an artist) who you think should be featured, let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

Watercolor purple sea turtle whose blue-green shell has a bronze edge. I posted this turtle painting a year ago, the same week I started my blog.

The last year has been fantastic! I am so happy with everything I’ve learned & I’m thrilled how many of you have come along for the ride with me. I think these changes are going to make things even more fun! I’ll be here every Tuesday to talk more about art (& sometimes cooking) or to post links to each #KWPrompts art challenge. I hope you’ll be here, too!

Watercolor sea turtle with green shell, brown carapace, & greenish brown body swimming happily. I posted this turtle recently. What a difference a year makes!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

One of my New year’s resolutions is to start a biweekly art challenge: #KWPrompts. I love a good art challenge. Finding a fun art prompt can result in me casting my painting plans to the wind & spending all my free time on whatever ridiculousness some word wizard on the internet came up with. Enough is enough! I want to be that wizard! Get ready to play…

This is my very first prompt! All art styles & skill levels are welcome- beginner to expert, renaissance painting to rough sketch. I’ll be posting new prompts on this blog & the sites listed below every other Tuesday. I can’t wait to see what you make!

Art Prompt: A Movie You’ve Loved Since You First Saw It

Tag me &/or #KWPrompts so I see your art!

Show me how you think! No AI, Yes alt text, CW as needed.

#KWPrompts posted here: Mastodon Bluesky IG

Here is mine Line art of a moderately-sized boat being chased by a shark that must be very large, judging by the fin that sticks out of the water. The boat's name, "Orca", is written on the side. A Movie I’ve Loved Since I First Saw It

Here’s a list of other art challenges I want to participate in this year: #FebruaryFaces 28 (or 29) Days of Faces! #AuGHOST (August) 31 Days of Ghosts! #Slowvember (November) Taking your time with your art! #FolktaleWeek (December) 1 week of folktale themed prompts! Last but not least: Krita is a free/open source art program that I use for most of my digital art. The Krita community is lovely, & has monthly art challenges with a new theme every month

Have a fantastic day! Draw something for my art challenge! See you next week!

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Join us for #ArtABCs, the best art challenge on the internet!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

What Is Line Art?

Line art, as the name might hint, is art that is focused on lines. I know what you’re thinking; “isn’t lots of art focused on lines?” and, yes, you do have a point. Lines are one of the seven elements of art, along with shape, texture, form, space, color and, & value. Lines are the sort of thing most art & artists focus on, in one way or another. Richard Long has a series of pieces focused on lines, starting with A Line Made By Walking, but it is not line art. This van Gough portrait has a heavy emphasis on lines, but it is not line art. This van Gough portrait has a heavy emphasis on lines, & it is line art. What’s the difference?

Line art of a cactus wren resting in a hole in a saguaro cactus. Is this line art, or line-y art?

Line art is pretty minimalist. It doesn’t have shading or color graduation. In most cases the lines don’t even have any color, they are just black #ink on white paper. The drawing can be exact or abstract. It can be sketchy or a more polished work. As you can see, in spite of only being a line or lines, this form of art can represent a whole spectrum of subjects! It’s not perfectly black & white- even though it often is.

Line art of a boat being tossed about in enormous ocean waves.

When Did It Start?

This sort of depends on who you ask, & how tightly you define line art. I think that the oldest art we have found- rock paintings & engravings fits the description of line art. This means line art is over 45,000 years old! Line art shows up again & again throughout human history. A mandala can be geometric line art. Line art was used in many printed illustrations before photographs, as it translates easily to a carved block of wood such as in sumizuri-e.

Line art of a birch forest. One tree has a heart & initials carved into it.

Who Does It?

Pablo Picasso is famous largely for his paintings. In recent years, however, his amazing line art has become exceedingly popular! Picasso drew each of these pictures with one continuous line, which is called lineography. Prints of his single-line animal drawings are available all over the internet, as much of his work is in the public domain at this point. I’ve talked about Andy Warhol’s printed art at length, but slightly less well-known is a blotted line technique that is a lot of fun! Henri Matisse also did some lovely line pieces. Paul Klee’s Burdened Children has lived rent-free in my head since I first saw it, along with a quote of his; “a line is a dot that went for a walk.”

Minimalist ink drawing: a thicket of reeds growing on the bank of a river.

Why I Love It

Line art is a flexible style that can be just about anything you want it to be. It can be a painstaking, detail-focused work. It can also embrace imperfections like shaky lines. For me, drawing line art is very relaxing. A major challenge I face is falling into a groove & drawing more lines than I initially intended.

Ink line drawing of a tree-lined road cutting through rolling hills under a clear sky. Did this need so many lines? Heck no. Did I enjoy drawing so many lines? Heck yes!

Line Art Exercises

By now you are no doubt vibrating with excitement, abuzz with the very idea of creating your very own line art! Why not? You only need a pen & some paper to get started! Below are 2 easy Line Art exercises you can try:

Blind Contour Drawing

  1. Pick a familiar object: pens, scissors, & coffee mugs are all popular choices.
  2. You need a space larger than your paper so your arm can move freely without knocking into things, especially for this exercise. Clear anything you may bump into out of reach.
  3. Place the object you’ve chosen a few inches away from your paper. You want to be able to look at it without having the paper in your eye line. It can help, if you are a lefty, to put the object slightly to the right (& vice versa) instead of straight ahead of you, so that when you look at the object you are looking away from your drawing hand.
  4. Position your pen near the middle of the paper. This makes it less likely you will draw off the edge by mistake.
  5. Look carefully at the object you have chosen. Without looking at your paper, draw the object. You can use many separate lines, or one continuous line. You can add as much detail as you like.

That’s it! I love drawing these. They always come out so differently than what I’m expecting! The example of blind contour drawing below was made with one continuous line. I thought it would help me stay a little more on track? Maybe it did.

Messy ink drawing of 2 Jagged lines, like how children draw monster teeth, overlapping in different directions over an oval shape. A long, thin oval shape stretches from it on one side. Feast your eyes on this wire mesh strainer, ye mighty, & despair!

Contour Drawing

  1. Pick a familiar object: pens, scissors, & coffee mugs are all popular choices. If you did the Blind Contour Drawing, above, it can be interesting to use the same object for this exercise.
  2. Place the object you’ve chosen a few inches away from your paper.
  3. Look carefully at the object you have chosen.
  4. Draw the object. You can use many separate lines, or one continuous line. You can add as much detail as you like.

Ink drawing of a dented mesh wire kitchen strainer with a long handle. Now feast your eyes on this wire mesh strainer, ye mighty, & despair!

If you try either of these drawing exercises, share it with me or tag me! I’d love to see what you draw on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Happy Julian New Year!

Have you made any resolutions for 2024? Every year since 2015 I have made the same New Years’ resolution: to make better choices than last year. It’s pretty easy to stick to while allowing for slow, incremental change that I can sustain over time. I want more concrete, specific goals when it comes to art & so I have picked five. Here they are, listed from least to most challenging:

Goal 1: New Art Challenge Approaching!

I love a good art challenge. Finding a fun art prompt can result in me casting my painting plans to the wind & spending all my free time on whatever ridiculousness some word wizard on the internet came up with. Enough is enough! I want to be that wizard! I’m going to give it a week or so to let everyone recover from the holidays & get ready to play… Keep an eye out for #KWPrompts, coming soon to a Tuesday near you!

Watercolor of many pumpkins sitting in a line. A bucket & brush with orange paint on them is pushed to the side. One of the pumpkins is actually a bat, painted orange! ”PumpkinBat!” cries the wizard, & what can I do but oblige them?

Goal 2: Feature More Artists!

You may have noticed that I have a nice selection of articles on Featured Artists. I want that section to grow & grow! Lately I got sidetracked learning about brilliant author Tomie de Paola & trying to read all his books, which is a tall order- there are over 200! (Big thanks to my local library system, I could never have read dozens of de Paola books without their help!) I want to write about more current artists, & maybe interview them instead of just researching & writing about them on my own? If there is an artist (or you are an artist) who you think should be featured, let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

Watercolor little girl in a blue dress & bunny slippers smiling as she looks at a red lantern. My version of Xingling from “The Nian Monster” by Andrea Wang & Alina Chau

Goal 3: Expand My Shop

That’s right, I have my very own shop where you can get my art on mugs, notebooks, or lovely vinyl stickers for your laptop or water bottle! It’s wonderful! The only problem is me: I hate uploading my new art because the website is slow enough that I get bored, but not so slow that I can actually multitask while doing it. I am very behind on uploading pictures, & this whole entry is me blogshaming myself into actually getting caught up. I wonder if it will work?

Line art of a boat being tossed about in enormous ocean waves. It worked!

If there is a piece you wish I sold in my shop, let me know! I will add it & send you a coupon code!

Goal 4: Tell Everyone How Awesome Animals Are

News flash: Animals are fantastically wonderfully great, folks. As a human I am filled with appreciation for animals. As a preschool teacher I am filled with a million facts about animals. As my second-hardest goal for 2024, I am going to get the picture book I have been writing about Marine Animals to the “dummy” stage! A picture book “dummy” is an odd bit of jargon, it essentially means a “mock-up” of the book! This is a daunting goal, but let’s face it- there can never be enough age-appropriate non-fiction books to slake a toddler’s thirst for knowledge!

Watercolor green sea turtle swimming by tranquilly. The Green Sea Turtle is the largest of all the hard-shelled sea turtles.

Goal 5: Touch Grass, Seek Inspiration

This is the hardest goal I’ve set. I want to spend this year going to Museums, Galleries, Art Fairs, etc., to experience a wider range of art. Another facet of this goal would include just walking around outside taking pictures. Why is this the hardest? Because I have agoraphobia. Maybe art will help me bribe myself into going out more? I am willing to try it!

What are your art goals for 2024? What strategies are you using to achieve them? Let me know on Mastodon, Ko-Fi, or BlueSky!

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Join us for #ArtABCs, the best art challenge on the internet!

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  • All pictures posted are my own work.
  • All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.