Hello lovely members!

Can you believe it's almost August already? This time last year I was 38 weeks pregnant expecting lil Dylbee in about 2 weeks time! (He'll be 1 on 17th August, omg, time flies!)

Lots of NEW stuff on the site this month!

Let me tell you all about it! :-)

August 2010

Artist Interviews - NEW

• Artist Interview Bonnie Rose Bryan - I'm super excited to announce that the very first monthly artist interview is now up! I've interviewed the magical Bonnie Rose Bryan whose fantasy art has captivated many of you already! Read the interview OVER HERE and let us know what you think! :) Next month I'll interview our lovely Rhomany and we can learn more about Rosie & Marmalade! Keep an eye out! :-)

Trades

• ATC Swap August - This month's theme is: "Angels". Please leave your name HERE if you'd like to join this month's swap!

New Challenges

• The new Monthly Challenge is up! This month is all about the yumminess of "Cupcakes"! Join the Monthly Art Challenge Group HERE if you'd like to join in on the challenge
• This month's challenge in the Artful Healing Group is "There is Nothing Wrong With You"! If you'd like to give it a go, have a peek HERE.

• This month's art journal challenge is all about Acrylic Transfers Come check out this challenge HERE. (I've included a helpful video tutorial on acrylics transfers in the thread).

Here is my art video on 'There is Nothing Wrong With You'! :)

Site Admins

• The lovely Bonnie Rose (who has also been interviewed this month) has also agreed to be an administrator on this site! This means that she is available for any questions or queries and that she is generally simply around! I'm very grateful to her as I enjoy her gentle energy a lot! :) So, if you have any queries, or a problem with a spammer etc, do approach her as well as Rhomany

Art Courses

• We are now in week 2 of World of Whimsy II! Lots of students sketching and playing with shading, all doing fabulous work! You can still join in on the fun should you want to! More info is on the main page of the site!
• The Heart of Art I know many of you know already, but just wanted to announce it one more time. I will be running a FREE COURSE in the near future! I got so many lovely responses to my latest give away video (so many people were also saying that they were stuck/ down and could really do with the course but no money) and so I wanted to be able to make art healing accessible to those who can't afford it. To learn more about how and why I am hoping to do it, watch THIS VIDEO.
• Marvelous Mythical Makings This course will also still go ahead, possibly a little after I have launched the free course. But definitely already planning this one. If you're interested in creating a new mythical creature each week and working on difference surfaces (canvas, wood, watercolour paper) then keep an eye out for this one, I'm super excited about this one!
• Both Rhomany & Bonnie Rose are gearing up to run another course each as well! Bonnie is going to run a course which focuses on working with water colours (Whimsical Watercolours I believe it'll be called) and Rho is working on a course which will focus on illustration & pen/ink/wash techniques. So there'll be all sorts of exciting courses coming to a server near you soon! :D

Interesting Forum Threads/ Blogs/ Videos

• Iris Perez has started a discussion on 'getting to know each other a bit better' - she's basically asking for some more info from you to connect more deeply, check it out HERE.
• Some of our members need some help with understanding gesso, scanners, beginner art supplies and mildew-ruined books - if you have some ideas, tips and/or opinions click on the links or come take a peek in the forum HERE.
• Take a log at our blog list and check out some of the interesting things people are writing about!
• Ok, this was posted by Effy on twitter this morning and it moves me to my core, it's a poetry performance by Andrea Gibson, I'm posting it here and in the video section below!

Featured Members

• 5 new members of the network are being featured below! Please check out their work and leave them some love on their profiles, artwork or pages! They are; Laura Tanuwidjaya, Effy Wild, Brittany Callis, Raquel and Iris D. Perez

I wanted to draw your attention particularly to Raquel who is one of our younger members of the community and does amazing art for her age! I bet you she'd love some nice comments from you all! :))

Remember that if you want to be featured at some point to have at least 3 images of your art (any kind of your art, doesn't have to be whimsy!) in your photo folder and make sure that your user icon is your own, not the default network icon.

If you want to be featured, please leave your name in this forum/ thread.

World of Whimsy 2 Now open for registration!

World of Whimsy 2 Online Art Workshop

Learn how to create your own whimsical mixed media art and get in touch with your own inner awesomeness on the way! :0)

How to sign up and what happens:

1. Pay your course fee (£57) by clicking on the 'buy now' button - but make sure to write in the email address you want to sign up with on ning (or have already signed up with):

Please enter your ning email:

Or by sending £57 to my paypal account: tamara[dot]laporte[at]gmail[dot]com, making sure to let me know in the comment section which email you'd like to sign up with!

Pls note: if you don't have a paypal account but you do have standard credit cards like mastercard/ visa card/ swift etc, you can still pay via paypal as a guest, you too should click on the 'buy now' button.

If you don't want/ can't pay via paypal and don't have any major creditcards, pls private msg me so we can work something out!

2. I will send you 2 emails, one is an invitation to the workshop, the second is an email with a link to a welcome pack pdf.

3. You need to accept my invitation to the group (follow the links in the email).

4. Voila! You are a member a member of the group and will now have access to all materials!

If things are confusing and you can't figure things out, pls email me on tam[at]willowing[dot]org.

For more detailed information on the course, pls download this course outline, it also lists all the materials you'll need.

Sign up Now!

Please enter your ning email: