At A&CNet, we are committed to doing our small part in helping the Canadian Art & Craft Industry grow. This is what I'd call “a comfy chair” issue. Grab your favorite chair or piece of the couch and a coffee and get ready for some great reads and solid advice! Some are long...ON PURPOSE, too... We make no apologies for that. Often times the best is revealed when you give creative people enough time to say what they want to. We’ve gathered an interesting group of people, working in a variety of media, with a broad range of life experience to give us their beliefs on “how to make one's art & craft”.

Our “Spotlight” Interview is with painter, Maggie Cole, who offers a glimpse into becoming an artist later in life. She has a terrific ability for describing the artistic process and her maturity gives her a special perspective from which to offer some very good down-to-earth tips.

We have something a little different in this Special Feature… a free lesson! For many crafts and art forms, a good way to improve your work is by improving foundational skills, such as drawing. Sometimes we put off doing these things because we don’t know where to start. We’ve drawn on Brenda Hoddinott’s over 25 years of drawing experience to help us get started, with tips on getting the right supplies… the first step in learning to draw. There'll be more lessons coming in future A&CNet e-Zines, too.

Our Guest Article from Robert Genn contains tips for “respecting your creative time”, something we all struggle with amidst the “to do lists” of everyday life and the “business” of art & craft.

Our Feature Media article in this issue is about wood carving. Terran Ambrosone carves walking sticks, canes and staffs, and provides us with a sense of the “creative force” as well as a good understanding of the wood carving process. She tells us everything from searching the forest to find the right wood...to applying the final weatherproof protective coatings…and creating works of art.

Our Ask an Artist feature has some excellent advice from Brenda Hoddinot, on setting up a studio space… for crafters, artisans and artists. Brenda has been a forensic artist, portrait artist, art teacher and author, and shares her wealth of experience with us.

Our always practical “Dollars and Sense” Tips focus on this “business” of art & craft, what kinds of things you need to do and ideas from successful artists & crafters on how they “take care of business”.

Our Art Trivia will be amusing as usual, and this time even has a bit of the absurd and bizarre to read about.

We are both pleased and honoured to share our passion and bring the Art & Craft Community of Canada together, sharing insights, advice and a bit of humour. Canada is blessed with so many creative, talented people… We hope to create a “meeting place’” and “platform” where we can get to know each other, help each other, and grow both as artists, artisans & crafters and as enthusiastic art and craft-loving Canadians.

We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed making it.

All the best to you!

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