Through the years I have collected numerous art supplies, a little bit at a time. With a one income household there was not budget for extravagance, every purchase was purposeful and well considered. For our homeschool art supplies I tried to find a balance in quality and cost and researched where to spend more and where we could spend less. I have always purchased the “best you can afford” for art supplies used when actively learning a skill. We invested in brands like Prismacolor, Canson, and Winsor Newton for our school art.

Now, our homeschool is closed and I am the only person in our household purchasing art supplies. I work a few hours a week as a librarian in our small town library and earn just enough “fun money” to slowly invest in more and better quality art supplies. I tell my friends that I can spend an entire paycheck in a few minutes and I can’t be more thankful for the opportunity!

One paycheck was used to order the new Sarah Renee Clark Color Cubes, and that opened the door for this whole adventure of this colorblind creative bravely exploring color in ways I have never attempted. I researched and read reviews, and came to the conclusion that there is nothing else available that even compares to these color cubes. They are so well done! I knew it would be the one tool I needed for building color confidence. As a bonus, because of the hex codes, I can also use these cubes for digital designs I create for non-profit organizations in my community.

I went straight to YouTube in search of a creator using the cubes in a way that would not intimidate me and would inspire me to create instead of putting it off for “someday, sometime”. I found that inspiration from Denise Love. Her videos are fun! She encourages others to create their own art, and to not attempt recreating what she makes. That is what I needed- hints on step one, step two, and how to get started. I choose a video that inspires me and follow her suggested steps of what mediums to add when. I am learning what goes on top of what when layering in mixed media art- which is my current favorite art play.