SLMPetersen

Hello!  Just in case there’s anyone still reading this very dusty creative space.  If not, then I’m probably talking to myself as I write this, but what else is new? Let’s roll with a life update and set some intentions that I very well may not keep any better than the others I’ve set over the past three or four years.  The short story is that we’re officially retired!   Hubby took an early retirement and after a 14 year sentence in Alaska we’re finally heading home!  No, we don’t hate it here, we just don’t love it here and we can’t wait to go home and be with family.  We’re rolling out the end of July, on a journey down the Alcan highway.  We’re returning to our home state of Wyoming.  We’ll be spending some time there and then the plan is to live the RV life before settling into a new home. We’ve been living in our fifth wheel for a little over a month while we packed and purged 14 years of life out of our house.  I’ve packed a small amoun...

Hello - If you're new here, this post might seem a little odd, but if you've been with me a while here are a few things you might have noticed. The new colors, the new name, and a bit of a refreshed look. It has taken me some time to decide how I wanted to proceed with my art and my work. In January of this year, I dropped a newsletter announcing I would be putting Inked Inspirations on the shelf.  I thoroughly enjoyed the journey I took with handmade cards, but it was time for me to start a new journey and open a new chapter in my creative life.  It took me a long time to settle into that decision, but now I’m very settled.  I tried on the idea of keeping the name and changing my focus, but that just didn’t feel right. After making peace with my decision to close the card-making chapter, I settled into the joy of creating art.  While relishing in my newfound joy I also found myself pulling further and further away from social media.  In the early part of the...

It's been a while since I busted out the colored pencils and created a bird.  In 2017, I had a little venture into drawing birds.  I drew a cardinal, a blue jay, and a mountain bluebird. After drawing three birds, I ventured on to the next thing. Then a few weeks ago I dusted off my bird art and created stickers to sell at the local gift shop.  Kind of unexpectedly, this inspired me to pick up my colored pencils and create a new bird piece. Settle in and let me tell you a little story about the decision to draw a mostly black bird, the red-winged blackbird.   Before my Dad passed away, passed away 19 years ago, he had a conversation with my oldest brother about red-winged blackbirds. After all these years I don't remember the details and the memory can play tricks.  In the cloudy memory, there is something about my brother seeing a flock of them take flight the day Dad passed.  The details have been lost to time, but the meaning and symbolism of the re...

  Hello Inky Admirer, Where has our summer started to run off to?  We’re into the final month of summer here in Alaskan.  All though the leaves are starting to tell us Fall is moving in quickly.  June was a bit more rainy than I’d liked, but the true summer days have been beautiful.  The end of July was a hot one for this part of the country and as we move into August we seem to be approaching the rainy season. In May I signed up for two curated monthly art boxes - Paletteful and Sketchbox .   I opted to sign up for a couple of boxes in lieu of having access to an art supply store.  The closest supply store is in Anchorage, roughly five hours from where we live.  While there is both a Michael’s and JoAnns two hours away, their art supply selection is more limited, and in some cases, the store brand is the only option. Recent Projects: From the Sketchbook Pages: This month, I signed up for Skillshare and have been taking several of the art classes...

The world is a wild place, ya'll.  I've grown so much in the last four years.  The on the fence off the fence battle that's been going on in my head for over a year has finally ended, and I've finally hopped the fence.   If you're new here and you haven't read the other articles in the Heart to Art series, let's take a brief trip back in time.  Remember when I shared my story  here , and I talked a little about wrestling a two-headed dragon?  Then in  part two , I talked a bit about that dragon.  I walked you into  part three , talking about what was next, and then into  part four , where I talked about sustainability and creating more than cards.  After I wrote part four, I let the guilt talk me into staying with card making and continuing to buy everything to make the cards.  Ya'll, I've been creating cards on and off for nearly 30 years.  It's comfortable and a known quantity.  The switch to making my own...

  Hello Inky Admirer, New adventures are beginning.  I’ve talked off and on about creating art in my little corner of the universe.  I’m venturing into a new commitment of developing an art practice.  I’ve had some false starts in this direction, but I feel like I’m finally ready to commit.  If you follow me on Instagram you might have noticed a bit of a shift in card style. Through my exploration of abstract art, I’ve created several collections of cards using Yana Smakula’s one sheet dry brush technique . Using this technique, I create several 9 x 12 or 11 x 14 inch sheets at a time.  Once my sheets are dry I cut them into panels to use for card creation similar to the one at the left. Prints using a gelli plate are another magic way I’ve been exploring new card styles.   The card at the right was created by applying acrylic paint to the plate and pulling the print with an old book page.  Once the print was dry, I used Archival Ink to stamp th...