I am so excited to be attending my fourth annual Alley Art Festival!! I picked up a paint brush for the first time just seven short years ago. I had zero artistic talent that I was aware of and I had tried a few other hobbies in the past. Knitting, sewing, my obsession with organic farming. I knew that hobbies could get expense fast and that sometimes the most fun part was just buying all the materials to get started. So, I just bought a pack of cheap synthetic brushes and a box of small student grade Liquitex paints. Money was tight back then, I was a single mom, overworked and underpaid in a corporate office job that I despised. I found really great websites that taught me the basics of painting. Between you tube tutorials and my favorite websites I was able to start making some pretty decent paintings. I taped them all up on the wall, reminiscent of Carrie Mathison in Homeland, so I could study the marks that I had made. A fellow artist, dear mentor and friend, that had first encouraged me to take up painting introduced me to the local art scene at Aurora’s First Fridays. I set up my first little website and blog in my second year of painting and by my fourth year I felt confidant enough to offer my art for sale at local shows. I also discovered that I found the business side to be as almost as much fun as painting. There is a lot of creativity that goes into to marketing and creating content for your blog and social media. I have learned some about graphic design, sharpened my writing skills, became brave enough to go live on video on Instagram. While I do have a long why to go to perfect many of these skills, it has been such a fun journey. My overall happiness and satisfaction with myself and my life has been revolutionary. I am super excited for this years Alley Art Festival. There will be many artists out on the Water Street Mall this year and I will be inside with air conditioning at the Old Library -1 E. Benton. I hope you will come see me. I have a number of small works for sale this year for $100 or less. Beautiful acrylic and oil paintings that would look great on your wall!