It All Began With Plastic

In order to share what provoked my thoughts today, I have to share my source.  A source that has been an influence in the last weeks to recharge my artistic spirit.


I have many artisans that inspire me.  Many who are close friends and dearly loved and respected.  I have galleries of saved inspiration photos of their work or just a photo from a magazine or online.  Sometimes, as simple as the shape of a face.

The source of today's thoughts stem from an online newsletter I receive daily.  I am more than happy to reveal my source and hope you add this newsletter to your daily read.

Barb Owen - How to Get Creative

I found Barb vegging on YouTube.  Hunting and hunting to find videos in the search for my artistic muse.  One of the many channels I found and follow is Barb Owen YouTube.  I found a woman who reminded me of myself. 

I don't have a "specialty" as many artists, although there is a particular technique that I teach (that is another post entirely).  I have studied all forms of making jewelry from a raw product.  Cutting stones, casting, hammering and soldering metal, making beads with a torch, using wire as rings or as a whole to weave designs.  Fiber arts, whether it be paper, fabric or yarns.  Drawing, although it has become very rusty over the years, I won awards in high school from my pencil drawings.  

I am a mixed media artist.  Artist, a word that is very hard to take credit for because being an artist is Picasso, Batiste and so many other masters.  But, I am an artist.  I design jewelry using raw sources.  Wire, sheet metal, gemstone rocks, and so much more.  I have been sewing since high school.  At one time making my own and daughter's clothes.  I am a certified ceramics teacher and taught in my home for many years.  A craft that along with sewing has led me into the pursuit of making my own art dolls.  Card making and journaling.  Knitting and crocheting.  Fusing glass and enameling.  Mixed - for a long time I felt I needed a specialty.  I felt deficient somehow, but being a mixed and not one single thing, calms my brain.  It is never boring when I mix things up - it doesn't stagnate.  So I see myself in Barb and that it is okay to not specialize in one art form - that being a master at many just makes me A MIXED MEDIA ARTIST!

So, please check her out.  You won't be disappointed and you might just find yourself getting creative.  You can find Barb:

Barb Owen YouTube

Barb Owen Webpage

Barb Owen Facebook

Barb Owen Daily Newsletter

Barb Owen's featured artist today is Walt Cahill.  

Walt Cahill

What caught my attention to this artist was ironically not his art, although his sketches are amazing, but his aversion to plastic.  I have noticed the last few days his tips on alternatives to plastic.  Upon reading his daily clip today, and clips are what they are - very short, I decided to check him out.  

Quit Plastic:  Tip Number 14 was the title.  So I was curious and wanted to see the preceding tips.  Instead of a novel, as this post is turning out to be, he states his thoughts in one photo and one sentence.  Sometimes, it doesn't even require a sentence and only has hashtags.  His aversion to plastic has become very clear to me as I go backward in his posts and see foods that fight cancer.  A dreadful disease that has found it's mark in our society of processed food.

Some days it is just a sketch.  I can just picture him in my mind, sitting on a park bench or looking out a cafe window, sketchpad in hand.  With just a few pencil strokes he brings it all to life.

If you have an aversion to the human body, do not click on the PORTRAIT & LIFE section of his page.  His work is beautiful, although I know that the naked human form offends many.  If you would like more on Walt Cahill, you can find his media information below.  

Walt Cahill Facebook

Walt Cahill Webpage

Walt Cahill Instagram