Meet Joe: High-school Sophomore and self-taught artist!

by Angela Bandurka

This morning our regular customer, Joe, came in to look at some watercolor paper and we got to chatting about the artists that Joe admires. We shared one of them in common - Mary Blair, the late, amazing Disney artist (think "It's a Small World").

This young man has ambition and pride in his work, it's just refreshing to see in someone this young. He has dreams of becoming a writer, illustrator, and eventually start his own animation company!

Anyway, he allowed me to share some of the art he's most proud of. I don't want to share his last name as he's a minor, but I bet we'll see more of him in the future. Thanks for letting me share, Joe!

Here is my personal favourite:

Snow Shy

Sam the Dragon

Little Dragon

Another Amazing Customer!

by Angela Bandurka

Isn't it incredible what you discover about strangers when you start talking to them? They cease to be strangers and you start to see the unique things about them that never cease to amaze.

At ARTspot, the customers who come in and stay and chat are infinitely fascinating - and Eliza Wyatt is no exception. 

This beautiful willowy soul came into the shop last week to buy a fountain pen and ink, and I commented on her cool corset. This led to a long discussion about clothes, lifestyle and interests.

Turns out, Eliza is a writer and illustrator. And her books are available online - for FREE! I asked if she wouldn't mind if I posted her link so that everyone could benefit from her hard work.

Why do they give away their books for free? She and her partner, Christian Leffler, put it best themselves:

The Forever Series: An epic fantasy series of love and immortality.

Have a free book.

No, you don't need to sign up for anything. I don't want to know your email address. No account, no DRM, no expiration date. Take it. Go on. In fact if you like it, email it to your friends with our blessings. Just don't print or sell it.

We do this because as readers ourselves, it's important to us that people discover fiction that they can be enthusiastic about. The book we're offering is the first of a series of fantasy novellas (books about a hundred pages long) for readers age 16+. There's no trick ending, no cliffhanger. You can find the next books in the series in our shop-- each ebook is a dollar. We also sell printed books, if you'd like a solid copy. - See more at: http://theforeverseries.com/#sthash.Pf1YJDqg.dpuf