When I was kid, I had to use my school supplies as my art supplies. This is problematic because I had to be careful not to over use them, especially my markers. I needed them for school, so I didn’t get to create as much as I wanted and that hindered my ability to grow my art skills. As an adult, I’ve wondered what I could do to help children who may be in the situation I was in.
The first parrot was drawn in marker by 10 year old artist, Misty (Lemons) & the second parrot was done in watercolor later in her life (in her early 40s).
I was recently inspired by those little free libraries people put in their yards. I wondered how could I do something like that, but with art supplies. After some thought, I questioned whether that would be a good idea because all it takes is one hooligan painting up the neighborhood and I’d be on the hook for the shenanigans.
Intent to not be deterred, I reached out to a couple of arty people I know who have connections within the community that I don’t have as of yet and I suggested an art supply drop off. People can drop off gently used or new art supplies and those in need or want of said supplies are free to come get them. I just needed a location. This would potentially benefit adults and children.
My contact with the Mansfield Commission For The Arts (Texas) is helping me with a location they have available that would work for this. My other contact suggested I could make art kits for kids and distribute them to local food banks.
I love this idea, but lack funding. So, I’ve put together an Amazon Wishlist with supplies I’ll need to put together quality art kits for children. The kits will include an affirmations for kids coloring book, a watercolor how to book, a how to draw almost everything book, watercolor paint, brushes, markers, pencils, paper, and more.
I don’t want to skimp on quality. I remember when I was a kiddo around the holidays, well meaning relatives would occasionally gift me art supplies that were, most likely from a dollar store, and were mostly unusable. These kits should last the children a long time.
Artist Misty Lemons of Designs By Misty Blue Art Holding Up A Watercolor Painting She Created In Her Little Art Studio
If you are an artist or someone who wants to support young artists, maybe this is an idea you could implement in your community. I’d love to see this become a trend. Art is therapeutic. It expands the mind and soothes the soul. I think our communities would greatly benefit from a movement like this.
I’m starting off with 100 kits. If it’s successful, I may do more. I’m not sure where I will store everything (possibly my garage), but first things first. I have to acquire the supplies. If you would like to help, please spread the word and donate something on the wishlist. Thank you so much for your support!
*For Educational Purposes Only
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What if art, artists, and self-expression were to disappear tomorrow? What do you think the world would look like? Would it be drab, joyless, passionless, boring? Would the clothes you wear be bland and basic? Would packaging on products be unremarkable? Would movies, music, and art be created from AI that corruptly procured from the human artists that came before it? Would said “art” be wonky, weird, disjointed, and have multiple digits and appendages? Would art fairs disappear and be a thing of the past? Would art galleries shutter for good? How would it affect critical thinking and problem solving or empathy and emotional regulation? What if books no longer had pictures? Would concerts cease to exist? Would you miss art and artists then? Would you miss the human element and nuance?
Artist Misty Lemons poses with her watercolor painting “Hopeful Romantic”
This isn’t hyperbole. This is happening right before our eyes. Social media platforms are effectively misappropriating artist’s work and are essentially telling them it’s not good enough to pay them for, but it’s good enough to train their AI with and use for ads and marketing for the benefit of their company and its shareholders. They’re exploiting artists.
These platforms are not giving creators a means to opt out and are implementing these cruel, unfair policies into their terms of use. Artists are losing communities they worked incredibly hard to create, due to the artists having to flee these hostile platforms. They’re losing precious income that helps them and their families survive (especially if they’re disabled and this is their only means of work and income). The world is fundamentally telling them art isn’t essential and that they are unnecessary. Even though the art and content the artists have created entertain, educate, and inspire people and their work inherently helped these platforms grow. Not to mention, the taxes they pay helps the economy.
Art even has practical healing properties. Art is therapy. Art stirs the soul and creates connection. It kindles a fire in people’s minds, hearts, and spirits. It creates community. It helps patients with alzheimers and dementia. Studies show it prolongs and improves elderly lives. It helps people with anxietydisorders, PTSD, autism, and ADHD. There’s even been countless studies on how the arts improveexecutive function and motor skills in students that participate in artistic activities.
Artist Misty Lemons (Designs By Misty Blue Art) using art to cope with and heal through the grief of her mother’s passing and her childhood trauma (painting a pumpkin in watercolor outdoors)
I believe that art is a necessity. It is sustenance for the soul. It calms, relieves stress, creates connections in the brain and in communities, and is even a great historical record. Just look at cave paintings! Please, don’t take the power of art or artists for granted just because it’s seemingly everywhere. It doesn’t cheapen its worth. Art makes the world a better place by improving the lives of those who create it and those who appreciate it. Art is invaluable!
Supporting artists can be as simple as sharing their artwork and information with your friends and family, by attending your artist friends events, by purchasing their work, and by expressing to others the benefits and importance art has on society.
Thank You For Supporting Me (Misty Lemons/Designs By Misty Blue Art) Through Art Commissions, Tutorials, Shop Link: Link Tree
*For Educational Purposes Only! Statements made here within the blog are the opinion of the blog’s writer/owner, but we encourage you to do your own research into the benefits of art, the role society and social media platforms play in (allegedly) harming artists, and what you can do to help. No specific platform was named and any similarities are coincidental. Blog owner/writer not liable for any opinion stated therein.*
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Everyone deserves to collect a paycheck from the work they do and just like any other industry, you pay for material, labor, skills, and time. Whether or not one can budget for something doesn’t make it any less valuable. And though you typically can’t eat art, it provides sustenance to the mind and soul, which physically supports the body, especially during trying times. A good example of this is that art therapy helps heal and soothe minds. It helps calm and regulate the nervous system. Art is a tool used by therapists and psychologists to treat patients with Complex PTSD, anxiety, grief, and a whole host of other debilitating issues. Art gives purpose and hope. It also fosters community and emotional intelligence. Both of which, benefits society.
After my mother passed away, I used art to process my grief and heal childhood trauma. Here I am painting a pumpkin during a visit to my favorite park.
Simply by acknowledging people can “just use AI” to create “art”, proves how necessary art truly is. It proves how invaluable art is. That art in general fulfills an important purpose and role in society.
It’s apparent that AI’s easy access will and has already taken jobs away from artists, that huge cooperations want free labor to boost their profit margins, and that it hurts regular people, hurts families. It’s taken away vital money from human artists and their families, making it more difficult for them to live, survive, and thrive in an already challenging society.
To place little or no value on the importance of art is uninformed at best, callous at worst. Art is everywhere. It’s on the shirts we wear, the packaging on our favorite products, it’s in the cars you drive, the decorations we put in our homes, the movies you watch, the music you listen to. All touched by human hands at some point. Life is art and for many, art is life.
In my opinion, it’s foolhardy to believe AI “art” could or should ever truly take the place of human created art that comes from skilled hands, minds, and souls. Art that comes from lived experiences and deep wells of emotion and thought. Art is passion.
AI “art” lacks humanity, nuance, and soul and was built off the backs of human artists by being trained off of stolen art from human artists on the internet. Artists not paid for their work by these questionable practices. Art they’d tell you has no value or meaning and yet, they absolutely need it to feed their machine and make money off of.
Supporting AI “art” is supporting theft by the predatory corporations who are pushing it out to the masses. Not to mention how destructive AI is to the planet by gulping up one of our most precious resources, water, to cool the servers and all the power it needs taxes an already heavily taxed, fragile power grid.
AI may not be going away, but it absolutely should be regulated to protect humanity and the planet. Everyone needs to be made aware of the impact it has on themselves, their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
For Human Made Art & Tutorials, Please Visit My LinkTree
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*For Educational Purposes Only. Statements Made Here Contain Opinions. To Learn More, Please Talk To Artists. Do Research. Thank You.*
Some days, you really wanna give up pursuing art. It’s so tough on social media to get eyes on your work and intice interested collectors. The algorithms are absolutely brutal and demoralizing.
Liking my own work validates it, me, and what I do. I love my work and what I do, so I just keep plugging away and holding onto hope.
If you enjoy my posts and my art, please like, share, and follow. Better yet, buy something cool for your home! It’s a good investment for the soul! It pays you back with good juju!
I’m thrilled to share the news of my first art exhibition in two years! The theme is cats and dogs and my art was chosen to be shown alongside other local artists.
The last time I did an exhibition was just before Roe was overturned. It was also around the time my mother passed away and my dog passed away also.
Here’s a video I made for my socials. Obviously, I do not own the music. OneRepublic does. But the art is all mine! You can see both pieces in the exhibition here!
I took the time away to heal myself, grieve, and grow as a person and artist. I devoted over six months to painting in watercolor daily and even taught myself how to sculpt in polymer clay.
This will sound completely out of left field, but I’m not much of a joiner and I’m not sure many have understood it. As a child of abuse, isolation was safety. No one could hurt me if I was alone. I isolated at school as a kid and as an adult, I’d go to parties and wind up in the bathroom crying because no one would come over and talk to me and I felt like I didn’t belong, so I stopped going and believed I wasn’t missed.
After taking time to self reflect and heal, I understand the only person I truly needed to fit in with was me. I belong with me. It’s safe being with myself and so wherever I go I fit and belong. Maybe, I’m not like everybody else and that’s okay. I deserve a seat at the table too and I’m showing up for me.
This exhibition means a lot to me because it’s the culmination of a tremendous amount of deep and meaningful inner work. I chose the wolf painting to honor my mother and my healing journey and the playful dog to honor my inner child who never felt free and to honor the memory of my bestest buddy and goodest boy, Bones.
Here’s my bestest buddy, Bones on one of our walks. I miss him every day.
This art will be on exhibit from now until October at the Family Dream Center in Mansfield Texas.
To Learn More About Me & My Artwork & For My Art Tutorials & Shop, Please Visit My LinkTree
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Sometimes, I wonder how my life would be different had I not had chronic illnesses. Unfortunately, I’ve been ill in one way or another the majority of my life, so I can’t really say how it could’ve been. Anything I imagine would only be a dream.
Here I am contemplating my next art piece, or wondering how I can afford to go to the doctor, or both
Health is wealth that is easy to take for granted if you have it. And society just isn’t set up to be accommodating to those with illnesses or disabilities. I mean, think about it. It starts early in life. Schools reward and praise the kids that never miss a day, whether they’re sick or not. It’s like they’re saying they don’t care if you’re sick and taking care of yourself is shamed when you don’t get the accolades of perfect attendance. But health is a privilege and so is healthcare, when they should be human rights.
America is one of the richest countries in the world and it’s where I happened to be born. But capitalism, greed, rugged individualism, bigotry, and eugenics are heavily integrated into the systems that run our country and many a people have been fighting it, demanding change and equity/equality for a long time.
My mother was disabled. I had a front row seat to see just how difficult life is for someone with chronic illnesses and disabilities. She worked hard to make sure we had healthcare, a clean house and clothes, and food to eat, but government assistance only goes so far. By the end of every month free school lunches were our primary source for food.
Now, as an adult in need of access to healthcare, I’m well aware that to even be considered for government assistance in my state, you have to be at or below poverty level. Working class folks who are scraping by can’t afford health insurance or healthcare in general. Subsidies help on income tax, but what about now, in this moment? And deductibles are in the thousands, so you’re just throwing money away and not many physicians even take Obamacare, so the task of finding a decent doctor is even more slim than they are without Obamacare.
My health started to really decline in my teens. I had proof from my doctor that I was suffering and needed an accommodation to take an elevator instead of stairs to get to my second story classes. I was denied that accommodation because I looked fine. I wasn’t in a wheelchair or on crutches. I was in an incredible amount of pain, but looked perfectly healthy. The whole “suck it up” mentality and way of forcing others to do things they shouldn’t doesn’t work. At least, for the ones being forced. I quit school. I didn’t see any other option. I couldn’t carry what felt like fifty pounds of books up and down stairs on my back day in and day out. (My classes were nowhere near the locker I was provided, so I was forced to carry all my books) I physically couldn’t do it.
My mom pushed to get me into a one story alternative school and that’s where I was until I almost died from an ectopic pregnancy and then a few months after that my dad tried to kill my mother in a crowbar attack. I left school for good after that. I took on the responsibility of caring for my mom and brother until she moved away to be closer to my dad while he was in prison. But those are stories for a different time. Let’s get back to living with chronic illnesses.
Here’s a glamor shot of my mom. We went to the mall, when I was 13, to get our pictures done. We had so much fun being made up and dressed up, but wound up only being able to get this picture and one of me. It was way too expensive.
Finding gainful employment as a person with chronic illnesses and/or disabilities is incredibly difficult, if not impossible. So many jobs aren’t understanding when you need to take time off to receive healthcare, when you need to rest and recuperate, don’t provide health insurance, or they don’t want to provide even the most basic of accommodations to help you perform at your job, such as working from home. Most work without accommodations, are under paid, work til their bodies simply can’t anymore, don’t have a job, are homeless, or are self-employed.
I’ve been working as a self-employed artist for the past twenty plus years. I’ve been fortunate that my husband has been the main provider of our family and he encourages me to follow my dream. But anyone can become disabled at any time of their life and he now has some health issues as well. His employer doesn’t offer health benefits and his pay was recently cut, as well as the position he held. So, I’m now creating art tutorials in the hopes to supplement our income. I’ve also joined a local art group, so that I can exhibit and potentially sell my artwork.
My whole family needs to see a doctor for all different reasons, but we just can’t afford it. I’m now suffering from gastrointestinal issues and need testing and to see a specialist, but it’s not going to happen unless I can move some of my art and tutorials or accept donations through fundraising.
Here I am with one of my art tutorial pieces. It’s a watercolor fairy garden mushroom.
Back in 2011, I had thyroid cancer and now my doctor is concerned I could potentially have a gi type cancer. If that turns out to be the case, I don’t think I’ll be able to fight it with the financial situation we’re in now and that terrifies me. I’m trying to stay positive and have been doing PayPal fundraisers. But I can’t do this alone. My family and I appreciate your support. Whether you donate, purchase my art and art tutorials, or share my posts on social media. Thank you.
“Lone Wolf”, tells a deeply heartfelt story of grief and loss. When my mother (who was Native American) had passed, in my grief, I decided to go on a healing journey through watercolor painting. I painted multiple times a day for six months. This painting is just one of many reminders of love, heartbreak, and my healing journey.
“Lone Wolf ” Watercolor By Award Winning Artist, Misty Lemons Of Designs By Misty Blue Art
This beautiful original piece is 9×12 inches and matted in a 11×14 frame that is ready to hang. The mat was specifically cut to show most of the artwork. Plexiglass is used in place of glass.
When I started livestreaming on TikTok, I offered a glimpse into my artistic process. Whether I was painting in watercolor in the park or sculpting polymer clay in my studio, I urged viewers to seek progress and not perfection when practicing art. I spoke on how therapeutic creating art can be, after suffering childhood trauma and using art as a tool for healing.
This Watercolor Fairy Garden Tutorial Is Available In My Shop Now!
After twenty plus years of being a professional creative, it only made sense to start teaching what I’ve learned. I’m starting with watercolor painting and may move on to acrylic painting and polymer clay later.
I chose to start with watercolor tutorials because I remember when I started to learn watercolor how intimidating it felt. But I kept at it and I want to share my insights into the medium with others who may be feeling the same way I did.
To Honor Him, I Named This Tutorial After My Dog, Bones. He Loved Eating Watermelon With Me. He Was My Bestest Buddy And I Miss Him Every Day.Here I Am With My Sweet Boy After Demolishing A Watermelon Together On The Fourth Of July
When the pandemic hit, people were picking up new skills while in quarantine. I decided to pick up watercolor. But after my mom passed in 2022, I decided I needed something to help me through my grief. So I started painting several times a day for six months. Only when I started practicing daily did I see real improvement. And I still consider art a practice. Every time I create I learn something new and see progress in the skills I’m learning.
After Losing My Mom, Going To The Park To Paint Was The Best Thing I Did For Myself. It Helped Me Process My Grief.
It’s my hope that I inspire others to create and use art for their mental and emotional well-being. I’m not a therapist or doctor, but studies show art is beneficial and beyond that, I believe it because I live it. Art helps me. Maybe, it can help you too.
To Learn More About Me & My Artwork & To Shop My Art & Tutorials, Please Visit My LinkTree
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I’m pleased to announced that my first ever arttutorial is here!!! Discover the necessary supplies for watercolorpainting and practice two techniques today!
Feel comfortable and capable as I guide you through what you’ll need to get started in watercolor painting!
Social media dictates that you should have a niche to grow your platform. To be honest, I have struggled with this. It feels oppressive. Why put myself in a box? Why should I niche down who and what I am and what I do? I’m a multipassionate, multidimensional human being. I have railed against a niche until I realized I don’t have to.
Pictured: Misty Lemons, a multipassionate multidimensional artist & human being
I can be me and keep doing all I do. Through healing my childhood trauma and all the work I’ve put into it, and how I’ve always used art to cope, I now know I am my niche. My niche is me. It fits me, and there’s peace in that.
My niche is Inspiring Emotional Well-Being Through Art. It’s always been that. I just wasn’t able to put it into words until recently. It helps give my platform direction and meaning. I look forward to continuing to grow and creating more! It’s exciting to better connect with others through my niche!
In any case, thank you for supporting me while I’m on this journey of healing and self-discovery. I appreciate you.
To Shop & Learn More About Me & My Artwork, Please Visit: My LinkTree
*This blog is for educational purposes only. I’m not a therapist or doctor.*
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Misty Blue Arts 