I can’t do it this year as I’m throwing a party on new year’s Day, I’ll have to much on. But it was a lot of fun last year, in case anyone is on the fence.
1 Like
I’m trying to decide if I would actually use the access until December if I sign up for the $60 or should I just do the $30 (and use the other $30 for some other class 
)
I just did the $30 option. I’m planning to take most of it live and I have so many other classes that I know I’ll never go back to it. Are you planning to do any of it live this year?
Not to overload everyone with art classes and etc but does anyone want to art journal either this Friday or Monday?
- Friday Dec 30 at 10 am EST
- Friday Dec 30 at 2 pm EST
- Friday Dec 30 at 4 pm EST
- Monday Jan 2 at 10 am EST
- Monday Jan 2 at 2 pm EST
0 voters
I was thinking this video
Couldn’t get the video to show up properly so here is a pic
6 Likes
yeah I think I can do a lot of it live. My end of the year boardgaming is happing Wed and Thurs!
1 Like
@photojenn do you have Tarot/Oracle cards? I don’t know what they are for so not sure I want to go out and buy any. I see some printable ones on etsy. Maybe i can go that route at the last minute if I decide I want them.
I don’t have any of the oracle cards and will probably skip those sessions and/or work on something else. Tbh those ones usually aren’t my jam.
if they had them last year then I must have skipped them too
I chose the $30 option also. I’m not into tarot/oracle stuff so I’ll skip that. I plan to switch back & forth to the free YouTube hop I posted above.
I’m stuck in San Diego thanks to the Southwest meltdown and while I have little to complain about (mom’s house, good food, laundry, some art supplies), I had planned a few days of cleaning/organizing in my house before Saturday. I am ride-sharing with 2 strangers met on Craigslist so fingers crossed I arrive home tomorrow after 3 extra days of not Art-ing, cleaning, or organizing.
3 Likes
Earlier today wrote out all of the art classes I’ve purchased in the last 18 months or so and it was surprising. Then I went through the list and marked whether or not i thought each one was a good purchase in hindsight.
I found that what I’m looking for in classes has changed a bit as I’ve learned more and there were only 2 teachers who I didn’t regret purchasing any of their classes. What I seem to enjoy the most are classes where the instructor has obviously thought a lot about what they want you to take away from the class/learn and live classes.
As a result of the exercise I canceled my Handmade Book Club subscription (I really enjoy the challenges but the membership was a waste for me) and can hopefully be more discerning about the classes I’m buying in the future. I still have a few year long classes I’m signed up for but don’t expect to sign up for any of them again when this round is over other than probably Fodder School.
3 Likes
What’s been your most favorite class so far?
I think Fodder School was mine. Not for the projects but the actual fodder was much more my style than anything else I’ve done.
the 5 day postcard thing with Andrea was probably my 2nd favorite.
Also - does discourse not realize this is a FORUM?
3 Likes
I get yelled at for talking to Linda too much, All The Time! Actually, the anticipation of that admonishment has made me not reply many times.
3 Likes
Looks like Friday at 2pm won the poll.
So just to be annoying here is another poll. please vote if you want the zoom link on Friday
Art Journal Zoom for Friday Dec 30 2pm Eastern
- I’m in
0 voters
We will do this video
Couldn’t get the video to show up properly so here is a pic
Not a lot of supplies needed for this:
- paper
- watercolors or gouache. she is using gouache. But I will probably use watercolors
- brush
- water
- heat tool/hairdryer to speed up the drying process
- pen to doodle with
This is a shorter video and I thought it would be good to break in the new year with a shorter easy video!
Tagging:
@kayrun
@Lynx
@jemimah
@jeanneleigh
4 Likes
ha ha I ignore that warning…
@geekgirl…my favorite classes have been Alisa Burke…I realized that I like short, fast and complete lessons at once rather than ones that have several parts. I am also going to stop the Handmade Books classes…I am not one to take advantage of resources types of classes…
I like classes where I learn a certain technique and then can incorporate it into other things I do…
My most favorite thing , tho, are our Zooms…I enjoy seeing how everyone interprets the same lesson…
5 Likes
That’s so tough! If I could only pick 1 it would probably be a toss up between The Artful Holiday and Carve December: 31 Tips, Tricks, & Ideas for Carving, Printing, & Designing Custom Stamps both from Julie Balzer. In both classes I learned A TON and was introduced to new artists and techniques I wasn’t familiar with.
Below is a quick review of all of the classes I was able to remember (collapsing to save anyone who isn't interested from needing to scroll)
Who - Class - Details - My thoughts
- aworkofheart - watch.learn.play - Monthly subscription, 2 mixed media videos per week, weekly 1 hour co-working time, and monthly live lesson. The videos are a mix of abstract mixed media (sometimes using prompts), watercolor, and some basic projects and book binding. - This is a good value especially with the existing classes from the last 18 months. I’ve been a member since the beginning and the content is getting a bit repetitive for me. Andrea’s teaching style is very free flowing. I’m will likely keep this for the live components.
- aworkofheart - Under the Influence - Individual quarterly 9 week series, live zoom calls, each week focusing on a different artist. - I have mixed thoughts about this series. I really like that it’s a live class but Andrea’s style is very free flowing which some people really love but I struggle with in this format. I enjoy her teaching style when she’s doing her own work (like in watch.learn.play) but not as much here. I do not plan to sign up for new sessions in the foreseeable future but might do the free classes in January.
- aworkofheart - Living in Your Journal - This was a 1 year class that had monthly lessons and a 2 hour live class focusing on ways to “live in” your daily creative practice journal. - Overall this was fun, but I mainly enjoyed the live component. This was only for 2022, she will be rolling the content into watch.learn.play. moving forward
- Willa Workshops - Fodder School 1&2 - Year long class starting in October (I think?) with a new artist each month. Lessons are split into technique on the 1st and project on the 15th. - I really like this format even though I haven’t done all of the projects. I like that there’s a strong focus on make something and then use it. I find some of the lessons very drawn out but overall I am happy with it and expect to sign up for future sessions.
- Willa Workshops - Wonky Bits - Prerecorded class on teachable where she walks you through how to make what have come to be her signature “wonky bits”. - I enjoyed this class at the time but the content was pretty minimal.
- Willa Workshops - Willa Journal - Prerecorded class on teachable where Wendy walks you through how to make her signature Willa Journals. - I wanted to love this class, and it was expensive, but it was too slow for me. I only got part way through. I’ll wait to hear reviews before signing up for any more of her individual classes.
- Balzer Designs - Artful Holiday - 31 days of 10-25 min videos hosted on her website. Each week there are 6 or so teachers and one mash up lesson taught by Julie where she takes the lessons from that week and incorporates them into a new project. - I loved this class, there was a large variety of techniques and projects presented. I think there were only 2-3 of the days that I didn’t like the videos. Highly recommend
- Balzer Designs - Carve December: 31 Tips, Tricks, & Ideas for Carving, Printing, & Designing Custom Stamps - 31 days of 10-20 min videos hosted on her website. Each day there was a new tip or trick related to stamp carving with at least 2/3 of the lessons from guest artists. - I loved this class. I learned SO many tips about stamp carving and new rabbit holes to jump down. Highly recommend
- Balzer Designs - Stamp Carving 101 - 10 video lessons that walk you through the basics of stamp carving assuming you have no experience. - This class was great and filled in a lot of gaps for me. There is heavy overlap with her Carve Stamp Play book.
- Balzer Designs - Stamp Carving: Designing Patterns - 5 modules that walk you through different ways to design stamps (enclosed, strip stamps, triangle, and rotating repeat). - Another great class and exactly what I was looking for. Highly recommend
- Balzer Designs - Basic Membership - $6/month membership gets you access to her monthly livestream and livestream library. - This is easily the best $6/month I’ve spent recently. Her livestreams are an amazing resource. You can submit questions ahead of time and she comes prepared, often with demos or short video clips. Julie is amazing at answering the question you should have asked, not just the question you did ask. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
- Vintage Page Designs - Handmade Book Club membership - Monthly membership which gets you access to quarterly live retreat, monthly bookbinding project, monthly zoom, and quarterly challenge. - This is a great resource for anyone who is interested in precision bookmaking. I found that I wasn’t drawn to much of the content and have cancelled.
- Vintage Page Designs - Quarterly 5 day challenge - 5 day challenge where each day part of the instructions are released, twice a day zoom calls, and wrap-up party zoom at the end. - I love these, they’re a great pace for me and I enjoy the live component. I’ll be signing up for future challenges
- Alisa Burke - Chasing Freedom - 30 days of videos to encourage you to get out of your head and create freely. - I only made it through the first week or so but for the price point, I think this is a great class filled with creative exercises to get you out of your bubble.
- Alisa Burke - Doodle it out - 30 days of videos, each one with a new type of doodle to do - This class wasn’t what I was expecting but I ended up enjoying it. I probably got though about half of it and plan to go back
- Alisa Burke - Doodle petite - 30 days of videos, each with a new page to do. - This class was a mashup of Chasing Freedom and Doodle It Out. I really enjoyed this class and still go back to some of the doodles sometimes.
- Everything Art - Wanderlust 2022 - Year long class starting in January. Monthly lessons staring that section’s “hero supply”. - I really enjoy the supply specific lessons and enjoyed the first few weeks of 2022. There’s a lot of good content here but not necessarily all my style. It’s a good value for the amount of content. If I hadn’t already signed up for 2023 I don’t think I would sign up now.
- Art is Magic - Make Create Express - Year long class with monthly videos. - I signed up for this after really enjoying the preview. Each teacher has a lesson in the preview and then 2 lessons throughout the year. Each teacher’s lessons seem to build on their previous lessons (for the ones I sampled) which makes it more difficult to jump around in the classes. I think this would be a good value if I devoted time to it.
- Joanne Sharpe - ART SPARKS 1! "Words and Watercolors - Small class of prerecorded videos - I signed up for this class after she was a guest on a Handmade Bookclub Challenge and was disappointed in the amount of content.
- Joanne Sharpe - Art Zoomies Live - 2 day live workshop in Sept 22 - This was probably the worst class I’ve taken. Very, very little content. I will not be signing up for more of her classes.
When I first started taking all of the classes above I was in “drink from the firehose” mode where I was trying to consume as much, and as much variety, as possible to figure out what I wanted to learn, what kind of art I wanted to make, etc. I don’t regret taking any of the classes, well maybe the last one, but I plan to be more specific about what I’m signing up for in the future.
The last couple months my focus has been on Julie Balzer’s classes. Her brain works the way mine does and she is amazing at answering the questions you should have asked, not just the question you did ask. She puts an insane amount of thought into the content and flow of her classes and focuses on artistic process which is an area where I’d like to learn more. I also really like Alisa Burke’s classes, even though I’ve never finished one, because she also seems like she’s put a lot of thought into what she wants you to learn and she tries to get you to find what you like to make. I also have her on my “take more” list.
6 Likes
Thanks for the in-depth review!
I love that Julie, she’s amazing. She’s one of the few teachers I never get tired of listening too or watching. Everything she makes is gorgeous.
In her Artful Holiday class there’s a nifty idea you might like @Reinikka .
5 Likes
good luck! I def need to do some organizing of any & all craft supplies (esp yarn)
I haven’t looked at this Craftalong in a while and I’m so glad I did. I’d love to do this one with you all. I have Friday off of work so I feel like it’s kismet!
3 Likes
. Thanks so much, Linda!
As of right now I’m on break from school and have no plans for Friday at 2, so I could quite possibly make this Zoom. It looks simple and fun! I’ll put it in my phone to remind myself.
1 Like