SLMPetersen

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...

Hello Inky Admirer, In my last post, I talked about making changes in the new year. If you're a newsletter subscriber, then you already have the inside scoop. My plan each month is to walk though my thoughts and decisions while sharing them with you. To get the news fist, become a subscriber . Stick around, you might be surprised where this journey takes us. I have new ideas brewing. The toughest change isn't a decision I made lightly. I mulled this around for months and have finally settled on it. In August of this year I will be closing the online shop. In an effort to be transparent about this decision, I'm going to wade into the weeds of it a bit. Don’t worry we won’t go to deep. It will just make more sense if I share some extra bits. The online shop has never taken off like I hoped it would or honestly should for that matter. I have the traffic, but not the sales. Translation, there are a lot of window shoppers. The reality is that I can no longer justify the cost of ...

It's been a hot minute since I dropped a post here.  Welcome to the land of life got in the way.  Yesterday I released an update to my subscribers and felt that it would be good to share the info here as well.  If you'd like to become a newsletter subscriber you can do so by visiting this link .  Ok, let's get to the updates: Hello Inky Admirer, I thought I’d stop by your inbox and share an update. It’s been a fantastic New Year so far. I started a new job, which I’m loving! I’ve begun setting some new goals for the card business and exploring the ideas I have for changes in the New Year. In January, I chose to start donating more of my handmade cards. I sent 96 cards to Cards for Kindness. Cards for Kindness  is part of the  Creative Kindness Foundation . Once a donation is made, cards are distributed to the many organization that use them to spread kindness. For more info you can check out their site -  Cards for Kindness . In October of 2022, my mom...