It's a new year and we are so happy to be back on our Peacock Points prompt challenge. Meet Miranda Watson, December's Smart Art Box winner, who completed the weekly challenges, with her incredible take on each prompt. Check out our interview with Miranda and learn more about her creative journey, and her Smart Art Box Experience.
SAB: Where are you from and what do you do when you’re not creating?
MW: I was born and raised in Colorado, where I still currently reside. When I’m not playing with art supplies, I am snowmobiling in the winter and dirt biking in the spring, summer, and fall. I also cook A LOT because my family tends to want to eat all the time.
SAB: When did you begin your artistic journey, and why, what influenced you?
MW: I started young with oil painting, maybe around 10 or 11 years old, and I think it’s because we only received maybe four TV channels, and Bob Ross happened to be on one of them. I decided that it looked like fun, and I’ve been painting ever since.
SAB: What made you want to subscribe to Smart Art Box, has it helped your creative process? What do you find useful about the weekly challenges, if anything?
MW: I can’t even remember how I was first introduced to the Smart Art Box; I think it was perhaps a video by Lisa at Lachri Fine Art, because I remember using her coupon code for my first box. Smart Art Box has introduced me to some new and unique art supplies that I never would have tried otherwise; a few of which have become my favorites. The Weekly Challenges are incredibly helpful in getting the creative juices flowing by combining ideas I might not have thought of on my own.
SAB: We noticed you have a Youtube channel where you share your creative process, what made you want to start it?
MW: Initially, I wanted to start a YouTube channel to share with everyone the mystery and fun that I was having with my Smart Art boxes. Later, as I kept putting off actually starting the channel, my subscription boxes were stacking up (I was saving them to share with everyone, after all!), and I wasn’t “doing” art the way I had wanted to. Now that I have actually started my YouTube channel, I have strict deadlines to complete some sort of fun art project, so I actually get to use all my awesome art supplies, create really fun artwork, and finally, I am able to share these awesome subscription boxes with everyone else, too! My YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/c/MirandaWatsonAlkaliCreekArt.
SAB: Is there anywhere else we can find your work? What future plans do you have for your creative ambitions?
MW: I just this month started to put my website together, and you can find me there at www.alkalicreekart.com. I’m also on Instagram at @alkalicreekart and Facebook as Miranda Watson - Alkali Creek Art, plus my YouTube channel listed above. My future plans are to get my website up and going to feature all of my work and start selling both prints and originals; grow my YouTube channel and create a great art community there; and eventually to offer pre-packaged watercolor painting projects that people can purchase and do on their own time at home.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Miranda, and her creative journey with Smart Art Box. Don't forget to post your weekly challenges and hashtag all month long to be featured in next month's blog!