 Welcome to Monet Café. I'm artist Susan Jenkins, and I wanted to let you know why you should be here if you want to learn more about art. Now my favorite medium is soft pastels, but we share a whole lot more on this channel. And also, it doesn't matter if you haven't done anything artistically in years. As a matter of fact, that's the kind of artist we cater to here. And we literally have artists from all over the world. I'm talking the whole world, gathering together to learn more. We have a lot of fun, and I want you to enjoy this little welcome video to tell you a little bit more about why you should subscribe and become part of the Monet Café family. I like to share a little about my story because I feel so many others can relate. Often earlier in life, for men and women, we have to put our own artistic aspirations on the back burner. And then later, when our kids are a little older and we have more time for ourselves, we kind of don't know where to begin. And so I want to share with you why I began with the medium of soft pastels, fell in love with their wonderful user-friendly qualities, and decided to bring others along with me on this artistic journey by creating the channel here, Monet Café. With over 200 videos available, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips, and they've been conveniently arranged into playlists. I know there are many others like me who did not have a formal art education, even though I majored in graphic design, and we find ourselves struggling to find art instruction and resources that will somewhat hold our hands through the process. So that's what I like to think we have here in Monet Café. I do provide a lot of pastel painting tutorials, but also this is not an arts and crafts channel. This is, even for the beginner, a fine arts education where you will learn about principles of art in a fun and educational way. Also, more than pastels, I include many other mediums to use with mixed media projects. I love watercolor, recently did gouache painting, acrylic, and you will learn a lot about different mediums. And many different types of subject matter. While I love landscapes, I also love to paint animals, often including birds, dog and pet portraits, and even sometimes whimsical little piggies. Because art supplies can get very expensive, especially the good ones, I love to provide money-saving tips and even practical information about how to store, care for, and deliver your painting projects. Also, as a wonderful resource, the Companion Monet Café Art Group on Facebook is a group where you can become a member and join with nearly 10,000 other artists of every level who are so willing to provide information and valuable resources and encouragement to each other. So here in Monet Café, I literally invite you into my artistic world and provide for you everything that I have learned that I think will help you on your artistic journey. So I welcome you to join the Monet Café family and experience the beauty of art together.