Kids Books, Successes, Last minute Gifts, International Online Adventures, Victorian Silhouettes, Love and More

It's been a busy time since I disappeared into teaching my first online Hero's Art Journey course, which was a wonderful and transformative experience for all of us. The last passage of time has been a magical time - I took my children's book writing, illustrating, and publishing students to San Francisco to see and hear Chris Van Allsberg and Lemony Snickett (AKA Daniel Handler) moderated by the delightful Mac Barnett and it was awesome! I managed to spend some time in the beautiful Sierras, have continued bringing art programs to seniors - loving them and learning to accept their passing or their diminishing facilities, while celebrating their many successes in art. I also managed to make some time for my own art projects. Here's the seasonal greeting card that I was invited to do for our region's Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator chapter. Quite the honor.

I realized that two of my former students were New York Times Best Sellers this year - Yay Deborah Underwood for The Quiet Book and Yay - Yuyi Morales for Ladder to The Moon ! Another former student self-published a really unique and intriguing book Yay David Tribble for Lord of the Scribes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/lord-of-the-scribes/id463952767?mt=11)! And another of my former students, Mati Rose McDonough, illustrated her first and second picture books  - you can even enter to win one in a competition here. And she's releasing her first painting book Daring Adventures in Paint which I'm sure will be magical. Yay Mati!!!

To celebrate my students' successes I am offering a super-discounted online consultation for your picture book manuscript or illustrations. If you have a picture book in you, I can help! It's $30 off so instead of it being $210 for a guaranteed to blow your mind 3 hr consultation as it is here  www.artspractice.bigcartel.com it's only 180 for a guaranteed to blow your mind 3 hr consultation if you click below -

This special is good until January 15th but you can redeem it for up to a year so sign up soon  : )

And speaking of magical - my new online art (and crafts) course is up and awaiting your viewing pleasure and personal and creative empowerment. Spirited Gift Making takes a spirited and spiritual (whatever that means for you) approach to creating gifts for others and for yourself. I've created it as a self-paced course where you don't have to wait for anything - it's all right there with tons of fun video demonstrations, step-by-step directions, a private gallery and comments page, AND your own e-book of course content and instructions at no additional cost for the ridiculously low price of $25.

It's for complete beginners to professionals alike and everyone will learn something valuable. You'll be learning how to make Victorian Silhouette Portraits, acrylic paint and sculpted wish boxes, needle-felted brooches, watercolor peace cards, framing love frames, serenity bracelets and more. Any one of these projects is worth the price of admission so do check it out  www.spiritedgiftmaking.weebly.com  Please read the testimonials above and forward this blog post URL to ANYONE you know who's artsy/crafty or wishing to access their creativity.

Here's a peek

I've even made gift certificates for last minute gifts for that special person - only $25!!

And lastly but not leastly here's the link to the new updated Hero's Art Journey online art and transformation course with fresh interviews with inspiring artists and new content www.herosartjourney.com

And guess what? I'm also running an early bird special until January 7th for this course too. Only $89 for 5 glorious weeks of personal empowerment and transformation accessing or improving art techniques and creativity. See the post before this one for more info and this one is even better! Here's the link to the course www.herosartjourney.com

Here's the link for the discounted price

Here's a sneak peek of the new Hero's Art Journey video



And another gift certificate

And finally here are a few testimonials from heroes all around the world who took the first Hero's Art Journey course:

What I liked most about the course was that it was not just technique, not just personal growth, not just art history, but a fabulous combination of these things and more. It also felt like a very caring community of artists, which I desperately needed being an insecure beginner! This was a terrific experience! :) ~ Michelle Lansdowne

I spent the day thinking of myself and other people as goddesses and gods. It was a really cool experience/exercise. Highly recommend it, changed my 'reference point' quite a bit. I have enjoyed all the interviews because they give me insights into the way other artists do/see things. I really like the filmed interviews. The course has been a wonderful mix of 'everything'. Life happens and art happens, and this class is a wonderful catalyst for making art happen while life goes on it's busy-body little way. ~ Kirsten Carlson

There is so much material, including demos and interviews. I consider this course a “must have” experience. Most of all, it is highly affordable, and very convenient. The videos are very well done. The material is well organized and presented at just the right pace. I am very thankful to have found Mira because her gifts of instruction have helped me immensely. ~ David Le Roy

Mira, I love the course, and the Flickr community where we get to see each others' work on the different subject matter--very inspiring. The technique videos are great, you make things look easy and very do-able, and I know I will try more new ways of making images because of what I've experienced here…. I love the journey concept, it feels like we're going somewhere, and we do! This is definitely a growth experience for me as an artist and a human being. Thanks for sharing! ~ Diane Stewart

it's so fun to watch you work. it's like dessert topping! i just eat up the visuals with my eyeballs. and i love monster stripes and dragon glitter!  ~ Maya Gonzalez

Dear Mira your course has been a delight in every facet … this was my very first art class, and I had a great time. The Hero's Art Journey melded itself into all the myriad other things that life sends our way in a typical week and also how it stood out as inspiration instead of "to do.” I liked knowing about the different skin colors too, but I fell on my knees in thanks for the how to draw a person video. You made it so easy - I can do that. I've loved the course, the company, the comraderie, the tiny bit of deadline pressure offset by the hugeness of the artistic freedom. Thank you for all your hard work and your enthusiastic honesty. Thanks to you, I've learned oodles about technique and come to the end of the course feeling richer in very deep and personal ways Thank you for all your hard work, but especially thank you for your honesty and for sharing your open-hearted generosity with us. Mira is an enthusiastic and talented teacher who puts her all into her classes in order to draw as much as possible from her students. ~ Nancy Laughlin

If you need someone to push you outside your box I highly recommend taking Mira's course. Even if you're not sure you have the time, its still worth every minuite you can squeeze in. Attending Mira's course is like having a personal trainer. And, the input from all the other students builds on the entire experience. Through her concept of 'hero' I was able to identify with the themes and truly take my 'journey' to the next level. I feel 'unstuck' after several years of spinning. Just do it! Really! ~ Kary

Mira, thank you so much for your honesty and your commitment.... I will treasure this experience and your teachings ~ Barbara T.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end here. I would love to have you in one of my classes. As always - feel free to email me miraguy AT gmail dot com  or contact me in the comments section with any suggestions or questions : )

much love

Mira

Artists lives, friendships, collaborations, and art

I've been an artist for as long as I can remember. As a child when adults would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd say "artist" to everyone's horror. For most of my life, being an artist has been one step up from being a heroin addict or a serial killer. Decades ago a friend took me to her office party and the usual question of "what do you do?" came up - of course I said "I'm an artist." The looks were truly disdainful as if I'd said I had a majorly contagious disease, but then when my friend said, "Mira illustrates children's picture books" the change was amazing. Suddenly I was respectable and worth knowing. Faces were smiling. I'd been redeemed.

With the phenomenal rise in the information age and technology came a greater public valuing of images and image making and visual culture. Image making became more valued through this image driven media. And even though there's been a huge increase in respectability, and even money and status for some folks, and even though the emotional and psychological, intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic rewards are tremendous, being a committed artist is still a big struggle in terms of economics, security, health care, and the daily challenges of doing the work and getting paid for it.

For me, one of the biggest rewards of being an artist (besides doing the work and teaching others how) is meeting other artists. As an artist, children's picture book creator, and art teacher, I have become friends with lots of fabulous artists. I wanted to feature some of them here. I'm also delighted that brave souls who want to learn art or deepen their art practices will meet some of them in my upcoming fabulous global online art course Heros Art Journey on September 12th. Follow the kitty to find out more : )

I recently got to visit 2 wonderful artist friends Briana and Peter for their 30th anniversary. They are exceptional people as you will see from their art and home which was a total fixer-upper. Weaving their usual magic, they transformed it into a magical abode. I took a bunch of pics, which I'm randomly showing some of here. Peter makes wonderful recycled stained glass from glass plates and such and they both make fantastical talismans, sculptures, jewelry, and objéts d'art from recycled metals. Click on images to enlarge.

 

Something strange happened with my camera amidst all the socializing, so apologies for the weird color (sigh). Unfortunately you miss the glorious color of this stained glass piece which you can only imagine, especially when the light is streaming thru.

As I'm only focusing on 2D art for my course, Briana and Peter won't be featured in it, but the next artists will.

At the party, I ran into a dear friend Claire B. Cotts who had just come back from an exhibition of her work in Tennessee. Her work is brilliant (always has been) and while we were talking she "whoopee" agreed to be interviewed for my course! Knowing Claire - it will be fabulous. One of the things that is especially wonderful about Claire is her equal commitment to realistic narrative and abstract narrative in her work. The girl knows her stuff! Oh and she's also an awesome children's book illustrator.

One last friend I want to share today, who will also be featured in the course is my old mate Hugh D'Andrade (check back in a few days for more fabulous featured artist friends - too many for one blog post). I was lucky enough to be one of his students and then to have him as one of my students. I was also lucky enough to play a very small part in his and another one of my students falling in love in class and they are now both happily married successful artists. Yay! Am hoping Mati Rose McDonough will be in at as well but depends on whether her book projects' deadline is extended. Here's hoping she has time.

Don't forget to check back to meet Elisa Kleven, children's book author and illustrator extraordinaire, Elly Simmons another extraordinary artist (whose also done some children's picture books), Maya Gonzalez ditto, George Littlechild (hopefully), and more. Oh and here's my kitty if you want to register or find out more about this phenomenal course starting September 12th. Oh and can you folks who show up on my feedjit that someone really is reading this, help me out and do that magical exponential social media thing and help me get the word out about Hero's Art Journey? Thank you sweet things.