Inspirational Shorts - Poet - Gwendolyn Brooks, Product Review - Neocolors Pastels

Welcome to the post today.  You are in for a double TREAT!  Inspirational shorts will be changing slightly, I will be sharing on the podcast a poet.  This month the poet I have chosen is Gwendolyn Brooks.  Each and every month I will either feature one poet or more and on the blog give you a bit of information about them.  On the YouTube channel Inspirational Shorts will be a short product/art supply or book review.  I hope that you are staying blessed and inspired.  Let me know who your favorite poet is.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1, 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Throughout her prolific writing career, Brooks received many more honors. A lifelong resident of Chicago, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, a position she held until her death 32 years later. She was also named the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress for the 1985–86 term. In 1976, she became the first African-American woman inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. (Wikapedia page)  More Information HERE

The poem that I will read today is called a Song in the Front Yard and you can find the words HERE while you are there check out the Poetry Foundation, they have information about a wide range of poets.

Inspirational Shorts - Review

Weekly reviews on art supplies, tools and books to inspire and encourage.

Neocolor Water soluble Wax Pastels

In this video I share a review of the water soluble wax pastels known as Neocolor.  They are lovely to use and can work well on a variety of surfaces.

You can check out the variety of sizes that they come in HERE

Arts and Wellness Wednesday Art Journals and More - Episode 213

Welcome Arts and Wellness Wednesday, slightly later than planned.  I hope you get a chance to view the video below if not I have shared some of the images below that I spoke about.

listen to the podcast

This is where Cole plants himself, directly behind me so I have to step over him to get passed.  I built a barrier of boxes which he is not amused by and every now and then he jumps over and is practically sitting in my lap!

These are the hand made books that I made at my book binding course, it was really great, all in all we made 5 different books an I try and make sure that I make at least one every few weeks.

Art Journal Page Technique

Art Journals/books I made in Book binders course

 I love making my own books and quite often make them out of alternative materials - fabric, recycled, old prospectus and more.  There is always a wealth of materials available for you to work with.

Art Journals - Amanda Trought

This is a sneak peak at some of the other things that I have been creating - Sculptural Looms with embellishments and stitching projects.

I look forward to hear what you have been up to and seeing some of the images that you share.

Watch the Video

Check me out on Patreon

Check out the Network

Creative Gardener - New Posts

Check out the Patreon Blog

I would love you to come and join me on my gardening Patreon Blog where I share my new post about working in the garden.  I hope that it goes on to inspire you to decide what you want to do in your garden space and bring your creative flair into growing your plants

Also Check out some creative projects made from the

wood in my garden,

Come and check out my Patreon Blog and see see some more information and some of the tiers on offer.

Creative Gardener

You can also check out my arts network

Check it out here

Creative Reflections Podcast

Creative Reflections 

Listen to the podcast

Creating in Faith - Word for the Day - Serene - listen to the podcast