Today's Wonder Woman is Tamara Laporte. She has site is called Willowing Arts where she has all kinds of great information about mixed media art. Her artwork is always very whimsical, soft and gentle.
Wonder Woman Series… My Wonder Women are all gals who I follow (stalk) and who have help me DO something. Might be to be more creative, successful or confident. I love being able to highlight these kinds of strong, smart and talented ladies! Sometimes I have affiliate links in these posts and sometimes not. Any recommendations are based on my own experience with their products, sites or services.
How I Found Her
Two or three years ago I was thinking that I would like to get some more art back in my life. I had gotten my business to a pretty good place and my kids were on track more or less so I had a wee bit of time that I could start to (maybe) devote to getting a bit of me back!
Tam runs a course called Lifebook where you sign up and get a years worth of art lessons on a weekly basis. Some are taught by Tam and some are taught by others of her artistic friends.
I signed up for it and did some of the lessons!
And that is okay.
When I started I thought I would do every one, week by week. But come to find out I don't have all THAT much time. So instead I picked and chose which projects I would do and gave myself permission to skip ones that weren't that interesting to me!
I can't really remember where I found Tam to start, but thank goodness I did!
Why She Is Even Cooler
One of the first things I noticed about Tam is that she is goofy (she makes sparkly videos and dances around A LOT which is super charming). She is also from Europe somewhere and I am a sucker for that cool, British sounding accent. And then I saw that there was something wrong with her hands.
She wrote a whole blog post about what is up (she has rheumatoid arthritis) and seems to be a little sad that it is such a focus for people.
But for me it was super inspiring!
I am allergic to everything (food, dogs, cats, grass, dust, mold, trees… it goes on and on). Because of this I have infections and irritation in my body and random aches and pains in my elbows, shoulders, back and hands a lot.
Because I am a writer and type a lot, I worried about this maybe being a problem down the line, but then I “met” Tam.
She is a freaking ARTIST for goodness sake who uses her hands all the time. AND even though people ask questions or comment on them, she makes how-to videos showing her hands all the time.
She is so brave.
my favorite quote…
Don’t let the societal ‘norms’ stop you from being you, shining your beautiful awesome light, pursuing your dreams and be the inspiring being you are. Do what you want to do. Create, love, live, shine!
And I thought, if she can do artwork like that with beautiful, krinkly hands, I can stop worrying and realize that anything can be overcome if you just get in there and do the work!
What She Teaches
Like I said, she teaches a year long class, but I have taken other shorter classes too! My all time favorite is a “Ever After” where she and other artists show us how to make fairy tale characters in super cool, fun ways.
She also has other little free courses from time to time and sometimes meditations (I try to meditate but am terrible at it).
I wish she would teach a class on making little creatures/animals, but haven't seen that yet (I will let you know if she puts one out for sure!)
All in all, I am just super glad that Tam is around, sends me cool creative emails, does great art and generally making the world a better place!
Check out her Willowing Arts website here!
If you have a favorite “Wonder Woman” you think I should meet, make sure to drop me a comment below and let me know!
You Can Be Creative Too - Artsy Fartsy Life
Tuesday 31st of October 2017
[…] have taken a BUNCH of online courses like Lifebook from Tam, Creative Live classes, and any other creative things that I think I might like) […]