*Drawing Foundations 1 assignment at New Master’s Academy (online)*

I have a BIG ask of you:

Go to My New Patreon Page
Click the “Join for Free” link to keep getting Studio Update emails

What is going on here?
I decided to handle my Studio Updates differently. Instead of sending “email campaigns” I am writing blog posts on my website and sharing them via Patreon.
Will I lose subscribers?
Very likely.
I’m not even sure how many of you are actually receiving or opening these emails. There is a small percentage of you who reply enough for me to know that I’m reaching someone. Thank you.

Head over there, join for free, and you will get emailed when I add new content (Studio Updates, new artwork, events).

Earlier this year I started an online drawing class.

I thought I had a reasonable plan and would be emailing you about the completion of the class a week ago. It isn’t surprising that life changed my plans. I am currently about half through the class, but still very happy with the experience so far.

I have some studio reorganizing to do for the next assignment, plus I experienced a high-stress unexpected 2.5-week interruption that took me out of state. It is all a part of this human experience, and I look forward to getting back to the class and my personal art.

While I am stepping back from marketing, I do want to complete some new work this year. I have an exhibit planned this fall with a friend that I am looking forward to.

*Finally Here! My drawing of my son was published in Armed Services Arts Partnership (*ASAP) *Anthology*, *Partnerships: The Untold Stories*

Remember this drawing?!
I drew this with colored pencils on toned paper during a flight a few years back. It is based on a photo I took of my son about 15 years ago while we ‘helped’ my husband pack for a deployment from a hotel room on Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks Alaska.

This is my 3rd acceptance but 2nd publishing with the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) Anthology. The second one was never published due to Covid. This one is a nice hard coverbook: Partnerships: The Untold Stories.

You can purchase your own here:

Ingram ($16.96): https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=PGncx26cigdYoqmtLVZmsZXFt6djgmpmkgXDCfAP24C

*This is NOT my art. You may have seen that I posted it on Facebook twice. It represents how I feel about the actions of the current administration.*

Ein narr der meint, es su nit Schad,
Das kindt uß schitten mit dem bade,
Und su so gut, in die hell gesprungen,
Als mit rütschen drun gerungen.

(A fool thinks it’s not a bad thing to spill the baby with the bathwater; it’s as good to leap into hell as to slide into it.)

I gave you a fair warning last month that future Studio Updates would include political thoughts and links. Ignore them if you want, but I hope you choose to engage with what is going on, and I encourage reasoned pushback.

I know and love people who hold differing views on many subjects, and if I am learning nothing else, it is that “it is so important to have intellectual and ideological diversity within any group or institution whose goal is to find truth… or to produce good public policy…” The Righteous Mind, Johnathan Haidt (<<< I highly recommend this book)

This is indeed one reason why I have problems with the current administration. The expectation from Trump is loyalty, and he appears not only against intellectual and ideological diversity but has taken and encouraged a vindictive stance toward anyone who disagrees with him.

I agree that there are problems in our government. The pendulum swings, and there have been clear signs that extremes are pushing each other and our country to the edge. As I stand with my country at the edge of a cliff, sharing a cultural understanding that most, if not all, politicians are less than honest, and I still do not understand how so many people can put their trust in Trump. He is the last person I would ask to restructure my government. He has done nothing to earn my trust.

Tired by Langston Hughes

I am so tired of waiting.
Aren’t you,
for the world to become good
and beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
and cut the world in two —
and see what worms are eating
at the rind.

I thought I couldn’t like Trump less, but in the last few months he has proved me wrong in monumental ways.

I am someone who believes, at my core, that how you get from point A to point B matters. We need a better way to discuss and make important improvements without throwing our humanity, empathy, and commitments over a cliff with the bath water.

Below are just a few links I’d like to share:

The Political Roots of Dr. Seuss

JFK Speech on The Artists' Role in Society

Media Bias

Concordance Over Truth Bias

Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others

National Constitution Center Videos particularly this one: President Trump’s Executive Orders

Toni Morrison on the Artists' Task in Troubled Times

“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” ~Carl Jung

“We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” - Ayn Rand

Tia Sunshine Dye

To reply, email me at hello@tiasunshine.art