I’ve read several times lately, ( I can’t even tell you where I read too many things:-) the challenge to make art more meaningful to you. I love to just make pretty or cute pieces, but I don’t usually incorporate something that is personal to me. In 2008, I hope to change that. Art is a journey, a discovery of ourselves, the things that matter to us, and our vision of the world around us. When I decided to stay home this year, (I taught art at a private school last year) I wanted to focus on my own art and find my own style. In just these few short months I have learned many new techniques, read tons of articles and books, taken two online classes and watched my art change and evolve. I have found that I LOVE charcoal, making things look old, acrylic paint, and I’m starting to even like blogging! It really helps you along this journey.

This piece is another one I’m working on for my online class with Karyn Gartel. In this one, I have used a picture of my Great Grandpa. He’s totin’ a gun and smoking a pipe! Karyn is challenging us this week to get out those special, one of a kind pieces of “junque”, the ones we never use because they’re rare and special. Here is some of the “junque” I’m going to use for the niche on this piece. I’m also going to go out behind our house and find a piece of barbed wire from the broken down farm fence on the edge of our property. It’s kind of hard to see in the picture, but the words to a song by Johnny Cash are written around the edge. This was my DH’s idea.