From Artist to Art teacher. September is always a crazy time of year for me as I jump back into the life of being a full time art teacher. September 5th I welcomed the first of 800 elementary artists back into my art classroom. Gone are the days I can spend 8+ hours painting commissions, illustrating children's books, and recording tutorials. My art is now relegated to the few free evening hours and weekends before and after the numerous commitments I make to friends and family.
Because of this switch you'll likely notice if you haven't already that I'm less frequently posting new paintings or sharing the details of what I'm up to. It doesn't mean I'm not still finishing the illustrations for a second children's book or wrapping up my first ever Skillshare class, but it does mean those things are less frequent and I have less time to document or share about them.
A unique adventure I partook on this month is the painting of a mural at my church along with a fellow artist. One of the main reasons I love my church is it's support of it's artist community. In the back of our sanctuary we have a small gallery space that frequently features artists from our congregation and the local community to provide opportunities for contemplation. In that gallery they asked some of the artists to create a mural that will help display and provide information about the missions organizations and groups our church supports. Our church is in a catholic cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows that inspired our mural. We also incorporated our church's logo, a beautiful abstracted tree. It was definitely a larger project than we predicted but it's been a fun adventure none the less.
I still have art fairs on my calendar as we get closer to holiday season and shopping only gets more prominent. I sold in Northfield during the Defeat of Jesse James Days on September 9th and 10th and I was in Lakeville at the South Metro Artisan Show Saturday the 16th. Next, I will be at a flea market in my local town of Farmington on September 30th hoping to advertise my in person classes and private lessons to my community.
Currently, I have the entire month of October free of weekend events. That's hard to even imagine! But then the first weekend of November I have maybe my biggest event of the year. I'll be downtown Minneapolis at the Art and Gift Expo in the Convention Center. I hear this is a hopping shopping event and I'm excited to see who all wants to gift creatively for the holidays this year.
I'm about to launch some new stickers at the end of this month as well as publish my Skillshare class. I'm teaching my "Exploring Watercolors class" in Northeast Minneapolis at a new store called Simply Creative and it actually SOLD OUT! Which is crazy. I'll also have some of my stuff for sale in this shop as well. I've continued to teach private lessons and I'm loving the deep dive I get to go on with my student as they figure out what they want to learn and see how they've improved.
If you've read all the way to here, thank you! I am so grateful for your investment in my creative journey as I share my passion for art. I hope you are inspired to create your own art or appreciate the art you see around you.
With holiday season around the corner, think about all the people in your life that might enjoy a creative local gift, then check out my website to see what I've got available!
Stay creative,
-Alyssa Whetstone
