Books and art have always been such a perfect and symbiotic pairing for me! I love running classes that use books as the inspiration behind people’s artistic creations. One of my favorite books is Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It is a book I read over and over again (along with The Alchemist and anything by Brene Brown), discovering something new about both the storyline and myself each time.  

Recently I had the opportunity to partner with a local library and teach an online book talk/art class—it went swimmingly well. This isn’t my first time pairing with the library; I’ve run classes for them before. But it was my first time teaching this type of class through Zoom. Twenty women attended the event, all of them at different ages and phases of their lives. Some had original copies of the book, dog-eared and well worn, while others were just discovering this timeless text for the first time. 

One of my favorite parts of teaching the class was working with Sandra to create custom packets of her seashell resin blanks for the class. I chose three of my favorite shells from her collections and she put together gorgeous packets for the class kits! Talk about collaborations on top of collaborations and women supporting women! 

As with the vast majority of my classes, the kits and my class samples are mere suggestions. My goal is not for people to copy my art, but to tap into their own wild creativity. To reach deep into the wellspring of artistic freedom and create from their hearts. This style of teaching leads to such a magnificent array of unique artistic creations. 

I am sharing my sample with you, and then I also want to share the creations of many of the participants. I simply love their interpretations of both the book and the art class.  

I hope you will join me for a class one of these days! I am going to be teaching live in the Relics & Artifacts Facebook group on April 25. Stay tuned for more info!

My Sample: 

I started with a wash of acrylic paint on my canvas. I decoupaged the hand and the patterned paper “bracelets” with Mod Podge. Some background stencils give visual interest, as do the sparkly little gems. The words are from the book and are also decoupaged on, after being trimmed with a black ink outline. The hand is holding 3 of Sandra’s gorgeous shells, which were painted in subtle beiges, golds, and oranges…and then I added a couple tiny shells from my own collection as well. I love this mixed media piece so much! 

Student Samples: