Carla Sonheim

I was one of those artistic kids, yes! The earliest work that I remember was a painting of a house and yard when I was 8 years old. I was at summer camp and it was for a contest, the 6-8 category. Everyone expected I would win, but instead, my little sister Kelly (6) won it. I was pretty devastated on one hand, but when I looked at our two pieces side-by-side, I could see why she won... hers was free-er, looser, and less "perfect," but it was BEAUTIFUL.

My husband and I live/work in a loft-like apartment in downtown Seattle, WA. So I have half of the very large living room as my studio... it's very out in the open! I tend to be messy, but I keep better organized partly by the help of a great storage system my husband made for me, and partly with the help of my daughter-in-law, Christi.

I have a large library of art books and will go there for inspiration often! Mostly I like Modern artists, contemporary illustration, and Outsider Art, so my bookshelves have many books featuring these genres.

I also like to poke around Pinterest and Flickr!

I always keep an inexpensive black ballpoint pen in my purse... I'm not sure why, but it's my preferred pen to write with. I also like Ultra Fine-Point Sharpies.

Are you just tired? Sometimes if I'm having trouble getting started, it just means that I'm tired that day for some reasons. I take a nap!

Other things to try: take a walk or try a simple drawing exercise to get your hands moving (such as a one-liner drawing, a wrong-handed drawing, or even an eyes-closed drawing).

Most of all, be gentle with yourself!!

I like to work with fabric and make stuffed animals!

And I love to read fiction and non-fiction, both.

Thank you so much for having me!