 I'm trying to do a few new things. I gotta turn the viewfinder around so I can see what I'm doing. Well, that shot's not gonna work. That's better. Hi, everybody. How are you today? Is it just me or are we a little crooked? I think we're a little crooked. It's like I'm new to filming for YouTube or something. Hey guys, how are you today? We're here for another video for our Joy of Sharing. And this month we're supposed to be talking about what we're inspired by books, art, artists, classes. Boy, do I have a lot to talk about. So right now for the month of February when I'm filming this, I'm taking another painting class with one of my favorite teachers on the planet, Pauline Agnew. If you don't know who she is, I'll leave her link in the description below. Her art can be found of course on her website. She's also on Pinterest and things like that. She's a fabulous professional painter and teacher. And I really, every time I take a course with her, I learn something new. Do I always get her technique? No. Do I always learn something new and get inspired? Yes. I would definitely recommend her. She's one of my favorite teachers. She also introduced us in the course to a painter and artist. Her name is Barbara Ray. And I am gonna be saving up for Barbara Ray's books. I love her work. I'm gonna be looking her up on Pinterest. If I have a Pinterest board that I've been able to create with some of Barbara Ray's work, I will link it in the description below. I love her work. It's very abstracted and all about color and mark making, but I love that. And as mixed media artists, we should be reminded that it's not always about the perfect composition. Sometimes it's just about the color and the mark making. I also am an avid reader. Generally I read lots of romance novels, but I also read lots of art books. And this is a series I'm currently working through. Now Amazon says I have one more of these. I don't know where it's at. And it got lost in the move somewhere, or I read it and wasn't crazy about it. I don't know. I don't know. The one that's missing is the one on perspective. These are the Urban Sketching Handbooks. It's a series of books still coming out with a new one about color. I just finished the one on reportage and documentary drawing. It's tips, techniques, and motivational. It's less instructional and more motivational. That being said, there's really some great tips in here and there's some work from some really great artists that I think is very inspirational. And as I've been saying for a long time now, and I say it often over in my creative year and over in my Facebook group, A Life of Art and Self Expression, it's not about perfect art. It's not about great art. It's ugly art is better than no art. It's just about, in this book, it's about documenting experiences, people, places, and things. That being said, they have another one, two more that I'm gonna be working my way through. One is on people and motion. And the other one is architecture and cityscapes, which kind of goes along with the reportage one. So I finished this one. I loved it. So I'm gonna be working on the other two. So I'm working on those. And then there's an artist here on the internet and social media. As far as I know, she doesn't have a YouTube channel. She doesn't accept many friendly requests on Facebook. That being said, I find her work super fascinating. Not just interesting, fascinating. She inspired some of the eyeballs in my eyeball journal. She's gonna be inspiring a piece that I'm gonna be doing as a YouTube collaboration later this month. Her name is Debbie Wears. I'm sorry, Deb Wears is the name on the book. And she has written a book that's available on Amazon. This is her book. And her art, I'm just gonna open to, well, a semi-random page, but there you go. So her book is filled with images of her art and it is page after page of inspiration. She talks a little bit about her process, her life, her creative journey in the book. And she also showcases a bunch of her just wonderful mixed media pieces. They're mixed media pieces. So I would have to say to you to learn, explore, study and think about looking up some of these books on the internet. I think they're really worth your time and trouble. My other favorite artist if you're exploring watercolor is Jean Haynes. I've said that for a long time. I love her books. They're super instructional, super easy to follow. You learn a ton no matter your level in watercolor, whether you're a beginner or intermediate or advanced. She's got a lot of information to pass along. And I love her books. Just pick one. I will link her page on Amazon in the description below. She's got a bunch of, she's got DVDs and books and stuff. So those are the things I would say to look forward to. And of course, Pauline Agnew, she's one of my favorite teachers on the planet. I hope that you can look some of these people up or items and things up on Pinterest. Pinterest is a great resource. If you don't know what that is, we'll link that too for you in the description below. There's a little piece of it. Holy cow. We'll link that too for you in the description below. Pinterest is a great resource for inspiration for art and creativity. It's wonderful to go over there, type in debwears. Stuff will come up. Just trust me on that. Type in Barbara Ray. It's fascinating. I hope this gives you some idea of some things that you can explore for your art and creativity and inspiration besides here on YouTube and Art Joy of Sharing. That being said, if you find things that I haven't mentioned that you think are super fascinating, go to Art Joy of Sharing. It's a Facebook group and I want you to share with everybody over there. It's a wonderful group of artists inspiring each other to be creative all the time. All right, that's it for today. Please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Give this video a thumbs up. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave them down below. If you want to support the free content here on YouTube or the content over on Facebook, there's lots of different ways you can do that or stalk me on social media. My link tree link is in the description below and if you click on it, you're gonna get a list of a lot of different places you can find me including my Facebook groups, my Instagram, Patreon, my tip jar, my Amazon storefront, where to buy my book on Amazon, and a bunch of other stuff, my Etsy shop and everything else. So do that and don't forget the most important thing, go out and have a great day and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later. Bye guys.