A question posed

I recently learned about Inspire Your Heart With Art Day and was inspired by Patience Brewster, an artist and designer of ornaments and home decor, to blog about how art inspires me and how I celebrate art.  

My story goes far back to high school when the track I was in did not allow any time for an art or a music class.  My best friend was in art classes and created the most beautiful things.  My mother was artistic and my father was a gifted wood worker and me...no time for art classes.  Instead, I hung out at the St. Louis Museum of Art.

Fast forward to college where an Intro to Art and Intro to Music were required and I loved both.  But, once again, time and class load intervened and it was a long long time til I got to let my creative spirit loose.

When I retired from teaching high school English in 2000, I turned the basement of our townhouse into a place to play.  I indulged myself in paints, papers, photography and any other medium I could find.  I checked out how to books from the library, embroidered table cloths, got into scrap booking, made more cards than I knew people to send them to and painted tiny seascapes for my aunt.

Fifteen years later, I am still largely self taught and am on my 20th and 21st. design teams (Art Anthology and Gecko Galz).  I've taught at conventions and for scrapbook stores here in Florida where my husband and I have lived since 2001 when he retired.

So, what inspires me...pretty things, vintage things, lovely laces and ribbons, a sunny day, a walk on the beach, dreaming of a project and actually seeing it turn out a bit better than ok.

I try to celebrate art daily. My motto is "a day with out creating is a day without sunshine."

So, what is your art story?