Episode #16 Bev Morgan: It's The Light She Chases

Bev Morgan hunts down the vision and excitement she feels when the light flows through her explorations. She is primarily a watercolour Artist finding innovation in nature, on an adventure, or painting en plein air. Bev's passion for teaching resonates with her students because she instills her passion for Art appreciation.

She encourages and enjoys the opportunity to inspire others to pick up a paintbrush. Developing over 100 lesson plans in a variety of mediums Morgan shares her enthusiasm for travel with her fellow tourists  to excite and motivate their imagination into new ways of constructing their inner visions.

Join me as we take a deep dive into  Morgan's creative process. How did she find her way into teaching on excursions around the world? What are her thoughts on Art education? Do rules help or hinder creativity? What are her influences? Do they change with location? 

 https://bev-morgan.pixels.com/ 

On-line classes: https://www.udemy.com/user/bev-morgan/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistBevMorgan 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bev.morgan.watercolour.artist/ 

Interview Credits:

Sound Effects from Pixby
Audio Links from https://freemusicarchive.org/
Podcast by Carolyn Botelho

Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Creatively Thinking Podcast. Join Carolyn Botelho as she uncovers the inspirations behind some incredibly creative minds that are orbiting our local communities. Happy to finally meet you.
 
 I discovered you on Facebook where I found your work truly inspiring. You are an artist and teacher who primarily works in watercolor. Can you share with our audience how you decided on watercolor as your primary medium? I thought this was one of the hardest mediums to master.
 
 What made you decide on this difficult medium? Hi Carolyn. Watercolors is one of the arts that I really captured and got to know really fast. Back in 1996, I met with a fellow artist, Lynn Sudier, who introduced me to the medium.
 
 And at that point, myself and my two children, who were young teenagers, we would take art lessons from Lynn in the evenings. And then I did some other workshops with her during the day. And after a year, she encouraged me to become a member of the Stratford Guild of Artists.
 
 So I felt very honored that you kind of encouraged me to go forward and develop my painting. And throughout the years, I enrolled in other artists' classes. I developed my own style of painting, learning what I liked about the process.
 
 I have heard many times that this medium is not forgiving. Students learn about transparent pigments that can be used on top of each other. That way, you can see the existing color below.
 
 And you can learn opaque pigments that you can't see anything below. And I always share with my students a secret. If you use the watercolors that are liftable, that means you can take it off your paper.
 
 You can avoid any issues or mistakes. So you can fix it. So it is very forgiving.
 
 Oh, that's great. That's great that there are ways around it to make the medium just that much easier. When you teach, what is it about your students that inspires your creative practice? Is it the act of teaching and sharing your knowledge? Or is it seeing how they translate your skill into their imagination? Does teaching fuel your imagination by fueling your students? That's a good question.
 
 I love sharing my passion of watercolors to others. And I bring them their own style coming out in their own personality. So it brings me great joy.
 
 My classes are usually structured. And I provide the same reference. And I provide step-by-step instructions from the beginning to the end of the painting.
 
 But I also express to them that I'm providing a recipe of how to paint, how to mix the colors, the whole process. So that way they can use that guide for their own future paintings. When I first started, I remember a class from Lynn.
 
 She had sandy beach with waves. So I used all her instructions. And I developed my own painting just by looking at how she did it, what colors she mixed.
 
 So I always encourage students to look at, this is the process I'm showing them, rather than dictating of what they can use. Do you ever have students sort of question the way you instruct them? Try to, I don't know, give you just a challenge to your sort of recipe that you give them? Oh, I tell them to challenge me. And I also tell them to go ahead and try it.
 
 I'm not a color. Because it's just more or less let them develop their own painting. And at the end, we may start with the same reference.
 
 But it always turns out a little bit different. I tell them, sometimes I repeat these classes. And I said, you know what? Instead of using this color that I used before, I'm going to try this one.
 
 So it's just trying to encourage them to experiment on their own. Yeah, and then keep it new for every time you're teaching that specific class. So what was it that led you down this path initially as an artist? Was it working with your hands, your emotional insights, or something else? Can you share with our audience, what was it in the beginning that caused you to choose this creative path? At the beginning, I didn't have a creative path.
 
 Because when I grew up, I lived in a small town not far from Chatham, Ontario. There was no opportunity to learn about art. I remember in high school years when the guidance counselor, you know, they pull you in and say, what kind of career would you like? Well, I only had three choices.
 
 I remember nursing, teaching, or to become a secretary. Art was never offered during my high school years. But it didn't stop me.
 
 I really enjoyed sketching throughout those years. So my creative path just started back there. But it wasn't developed yet.
 
 And then I started developing it as after my Trojan was interested in art. And I took them for weekly lessons in painting with Lynn Soulier and Stratford. And I also had a full-time job working in the hospital laboratory.
 
 So at this point, it was a new medium I shared with my children. And at the end of that time, I started doing a small little business with Stratford Realtors. As a gift for anybody that sold their home, they would give me a photograph of their home.
 
 And I remember doing many paintings, watercolor paintings of houses. So I would sell them to the realtor for a good price at that time, $50. So I did a painting and they gave it to as a gift for the person that left the home.
 
 But anyway, it's just started to kind of beginning on my art career. And it kind of snowballed after that, I guess, right? That's right. That's right.
 
 And then when we moved to Hanover from Stratford, when I worked at the hospital, the hospital staff would ask me, how do you do watercolors? I said, okay, well, I can teach you. I can show you in the evenings. I can show you on the weekends.
 
 So it snowballed. I was doing two careers at the last 10 years of working at the hospital. But whenever I had a day off, I would teach a class.
 
 There was a lot of people in Hanover that were learning how to paint. And then I had developed an art studio. I was invited to go paint nights.
 
 The libraries, I was always interested in having someone to show painting to adults as well as children. There's a campground near Hanover. And every August, I would go spend a week at the campground and do two-hour classes, whoever's at the campground.
 
 And then I got associated with South Hampton Art School. And then I started teaching there. And then from there, I did cruise ships.
 
 I, when I knew I was getting close to retirement at the hospital, I taught on cruise ships. And when COVID began, I did zoom lessons. So it all kind of snowballed.
 
 And then I started teaching online. I'm pre-recorded classes online on udemy.com. But like you say, it snowballed. You do one thing, one event.
 
 I've exploded a little bit more as the years have gone by. Can we go a little bit deeper into the cruise ships? Because that, I remember when I saw that on your Facebook page, Facebook link, and I was like, whoa, you know, that's just, that's just, I've never heard of that. Like, how did that just, I know you said it snowballed, but there, there must be something that's just, just a little bit more to it that you can expand on.
 
 Oh, well, when I was, I know I was close to retired at the hospital, I sent an email or resume to cruise ships. I had no clue how to go about doing it. It was just something I was interested in doing.
 
 I've never been on a cruise ship in my life before that. Well, that'd be different. So nothing, no response, no response at all from anybody.
 
 So I just happened to Google one evening on the Google, watercolors teaching on cruise ships. Well, what came up was a watercolor artist just returning from the Queen Mary to cruise ship. How he explained how he taught his classes, had a great time, saw different places.
 
 And then at the very end of his article, he said he went through this agency. Ah, so that kind of had a door, a ring, little bell in my head to have to go through agencies. So the agency was screened me.
 
 I had to send references from two art gallery directors. I had to send a resume of all teaching experience I had. We had a phone interview as well.
 
 So they did a complete screening of what my background was. So I was back in 2015. My first excursion was on the Queen Mary to leaving New York City.
 
 And it was a 175 years celebration at the Cunard cruise line. And it would go to have the same voyage that was done 175 years ago. So it went New York, Southampton, Hamburg, Germany, back to Southampton, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Boston, New York, Boston, and end up in New York.
 
 So it was for 22 days. So I can't believe it. I got accepted with that cruise ship.
 
 It was just such a thrilling experience. So again, I have now two cruise agencies. It's good.
 
 I get an email. If I go somewhere once a year, I'm happy. Yeah, that's nice.
 
 Because yeah, your holidays and sort of it's a working holiday kind of thing, right? It is. It is. You know, there's preparation involved.
 
 Depending on the ship that you go on. Some ships provide everything. Like the, for example, the Queen Mary and the Cunard ships, the Queen Elizabeth.
 
 That's nice. They have a $35 US kit that the passengers buy. So it's a little watercolor cotton kit, as well as a pad of paper, four brushes, and a pencil eraser.
 
 So I really enjoy going on those ships because I don't have to bring any of those art supplies in my suitcase. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah, yeah.
 
 But I still have to bring, I still bring my paperwork. Because everyone in my classes have one page, four steps how to do a painting. So when I teach a class, if they can't hear me or can't remember what colors we're using, everything is in front of them.
 
 And I just figured they could always take that, their little painting as well as instruction home and maybe get encouraged to learn how to do painting. Yeah, you said the Cunard ship, well, that was like, they were doing a excursion that had been done 175 years ago. Is that the one that you were talking about? Yeah, that was my very first introduction.
 
 Wow, that's just, yeah, that's really impressive. At every port, they had a celebration. They had fireworks.
 
 They had guest speakers, a lecture. Every port that we went to, they were celebrating the whole Cunard celebration, 175 years. It was such a fantastic experience.
 
 You know, like they had, you know, how we have the snowbirds here in Canada. They had UK birds flying on top of the ship, you know, they had fireworks. I just couldn't believe it.
 
 It was just a fantastic time. The first time for me to go on a ship. Yeah, that's a nice, nice sort of introduction for you to the whole experience.
 
 Yeah. How has being a teacher helped shape you professionally? Have you explored the gallery circuit? Have you worked with other artists? And how has this encouraged or influenced your creativity? Do you see your painting path as one that has inspired your students to continue this creative journey for themselves? As an instructor, I am always trying to approach a painting with new techniques and tips for my students to use. I have expanded this medium into other mediums, such as scratch art, photography, and batik.
 
 Because as a teacher, you're always learning. You're always evolving. You're always trying to find new things that you can show or demonstrate.
 
 My greatest thrill is to see my students go on, develop their own style and become professional artists themselves and then I've had them ask me to become their mentor. So I'm always in the background if they have any questions or even just as a support or if they have any questions about the art. My own professional, usually they ask, how to do this, Bev? So I would explain it.
 
 But as a challenge for myself, every January, I begin a new series of paintings. For example, I studied and visit all the waterfalls in our Grey Moose areas and counties. And I didn't stop there.
 
 I traveled around Ontario and I did the lighthouses along Lake Huron. So I challenged myself because that's growing as an artist. Instead of sticking to the same topic all the time through my years, I've learned how to create more creativity if I have another different subject matter.
 
 Mushrooms. One year I decided, well, I'll learn how to forage mushrooms. So I learned a lot about mushrooms that you can go on the forest and which ones are poisonous and which ones you can eat.
 
 So again, it's a challenge. Another challenge that I have is musical instruments. Learning how each instrument was so delicate, how they're put together, and how those strings are on guitar or cello.
 
 It's just like, it's challenging an artist. It just gives me, to me, great joy of learning new ways of approaching something. And when I became a resident artist at Southampton Art Gallery, that was when I decided to do this, to have new series.
 
 So every spring, a new painting school exchange from the previous year. Have you seen your teaching on cruises where you share your passion for painting in workshops? Has being abroad as the primary subject matter while teaching opened up your students' creativity more than you expected? Or has traveling provided merely a better subject? Hmm, that's a good question. That's full of questions there.
 
 Teaching cruise ships was one of the best avenues for my art. I was able to share my two passions, watercolors and travel. But there is a lot of preparation involved in creating lessons to suit the absolute beginner, printing all of the paper instructions, and depending on the ship, bringing art supplies aboard.
 
 Each ship has its own requirement. One ship, I had to bring all the art supplies except for watercolor paper. So, you know, it just, yeah, everything is, they're all different.
 
 And I always like to have a group picture when I teach, either in person or on a ship. So I can take a picture of the, at the end, with everybody's, with their smile on their face of happy what their result is. Um, but I always trying to find something that I could teach that related to the cruise.
 
 For example, last year when I went on the Queen Elizabeth II Alaska cruises in the month of June, I was away. I was trying to focus on what we saw in Alaska and introduce watercolors. I had a map of Alaska that they have kind of used for their painting.
 
 And we just learned about primary colors. And then we had another class of whales, eagles, and other Northern American birds. So I was trying to find something that relates to what we're seeing, going to see.
 
 This fall is to see the Northern Lights of Norway. So I've got a couple of classes for Northern Lights. So that way they can experiment on paper what they're going to see in the sky.
 
 But after that first cruise, I was asked many times if I taught online. So that encouraged me to start teaching online on udemy.com. I started February 2016. And as of today, over 8,500 students have taken one or more of my classes from me.
 
 So it was just beginning. And I learned a lot about teaching online. But, you see, my goal is to show my passion to how someone has to learn and pick up a brush for the first time.
 
 And that's what I purge when I teach it anywhere, either on the sea or in person. That is impressive, all the number of students that you've had for your online classes. That's really, really impressive.
 
 I'm sure that was provided a bit of a learning curve for you for doing that online. Oh, it is. And that's my goal.
 
 Every January, I keep January is my new course online. So I keep January for that time span. I learned a lot about video and audio editing.
 
 And we'll be right back. How has living in Hanover, Ontario assisted you in your creativity? Does the landscape provide another tool for your toolbox? Or is your inspiration so varied that the location doesn't really play a part in your subject matter? I like living in Hanover. We have a nice kayak and canoe river called the Saukeen River.
 
 Some of the best things I really enjoy is going kayaking down that river. So landscapes, we have rolling hills, farmland, a little bit of pasture, farms, chicken farms. But the thing that really inspires me is setting up an easel along the river.
 
 And we have parks, beautiful parks up here. So there's no loss of inspiration here. It also gave me the opportunity.
 
 Back in 2009, there were six of us that got together, local artists with different mediums. We decided we could have an art group. And that kind of evolved to a non-profit organization in February 2018.
 
 And their new name was the Saukeen Artists Guild. So we are very active here in Hanover as an artist group. We get together for studio art tours to open our studios up.
 
 We have a plein air painting festival. We open a Christmas store downtown Hanover in November, December to sell our art that we create throughout the year. And we show together.
 
 So living up here is a good place to live if you're looking for an art community. I became involved in the Town of Hanover Economic Development and Cultural Roundtable Committee, joining other forms of local group connections such as theater and dance and visual arts. In this committee, we promoted artists to create street banners in downtown murals.
 
 But we also kind of got together as promoting each other. So when a theater happens to have a theater group production that's happening, we try to promote each other at this point too. So in the early days, we were all individual silos of different cultural groups.
 
 So, you know, we didn't know what each other is doing. So now we're connected. Yeah, that's really good to support each other.
 
 In Hanover, the sort of collective artist group, right? How did you become involved with painting? Is it batik? Batik, yes. Using rice paper and wax, was it just an evolutionary sort of measure? Or did you have any specific influences that came about that caused you to go in this direction? Will you explore encaustics in the future? Well, when I first started painting, I had a subscription to the Watercolor Magazine for artists. And there was an article there that caught my eye about an artist doing, using wax on covering her watercolor paper and crinkling it and putting some more colors in where the crackles of the wax fell.
 
 So I thought, okay, let me try that. So I did. So I really enjoyed it because it really pushes me to be creative.
 
 I know personally, I'm a very detailed person. So it kind of pushes me out of my comfort station so that I can develop really abstract things in the background. And it just, to me, it was more of involvement to become another type of artist or just involving and changing my technique.
 
 So I decided another way of doing it is by using rice paper. So I have my image on the rice paper. And when you have a brush stroke of paint, it goes everywhere.
 
 It doesn't, you have no control. So when that paint stops or in the area that you really like that spot, I covered it with wax, melted wax. And then I went back to more watercolors, add more watercolors and if I like it, I coat it with, with wax again.
 
 So it's like alternate layers. You can have about 15 to 20 layers of watercolor and paint. So eventually the rice paper is covered with, with wax.
 
 You go outside and crinkle your rice paper, you know, carefully, let the wax fall normally. And then you come back in the studio and you add a brush stroke. I always add violet.
 
 I like violet to go in the cracks of, of wherever the wax fall. And then take all the wax off just by using a hot iron and with newsprint and take all that wax off. So now you have a sheet of watercolor paper, of rice paper, and you have your imprint of past paint on there.
 
 So this time when I use my brush of paint, pigment, I touch to where I really want nice, distinct detail work. It stays put because it's got that previous layers of paint underneath holding it. So it doesn't, doesn't explode anywhere.
 
 It goes anywhere. So you can control of your paint strokes and where it goes. So at the end, you have really more of an abstract, all these crackles everywhere.
 
 And then you have some fine detail that you really want the focus point to be at. It's a little different, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.
 
 It is a really interesting way of using a different medium to incorporate it into painting. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Yeah. I did try an encaustics, but it really didn't excite me much. I always went back to my watercolors.
 
 Yeah. It gives, well, it gives you that, that sort of common thread that you're, that you're used to of watercolor, but where it explores other mediums at the same time. Right.
 
 Out of curiosity, how do you sell all of your artworks? I often wonder about artists and how they seem to store all of their art because it adds up over decades. Have you established a system of ownership or loans throughout the world with dealers or gallerists, or are you incredibly organized or is there having another home to store everything? That's one of the most difficult things for artists to do is they sell their own work. I think artists, this is the most, they have the most critique for themselves.
 
 They feel their art is not good enough, even for someone to show or to sell. So they're most critical of themselves so much. And they have the low self-esteem till you build that self-esteem of selling your own work.
 
 My own artwork is always rotating everywhere. So when I start a new series, they started at South Hampton Art Gallery and they were there for a year. But then when I take the old series, it goes to a couple of places.
 
 I have permanent places here in Hanover that it goes to those two places. And then I also have group exhibitions with the Sogging Artist Guild during the year and of course the Christmas Store. We're also very fortunate to have a new gallery that's been opened, Oatmeal Gallery in Cargill, which is about a 20 minute drive from Hanover.
 
 They started a couple of years ago and they exhibit local artists. So there is places here in our area to show art. And especially if you belong to an artist community group like the Sogging Artist Guild, there's always a place to exhibit your artwork.
 
 I just finished a solo exhibition at Minto Art Gallery in Harriston, Landscapes for the month of March, Inspiration Not Far From Home was my series paintings. And I also belong to two artist organizations, the Federation of Canadian Artists and Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolor. And so that provides an opportunity to submit my artwork for jury art shows in Toronto.
 
 So yeah, there's places around here, but I wish that there was a place right in Hanover that we can exhibit the work year round. I wish, that's my wish for the town of Hanover. Yeah, it comes back from my hospital days, right? When I work at the hospital lab, you have to be organized.
 
 And then to me, that's just one of the skills I think I have is being organized with everything in my career. That's just one way for me to process my art and to show the community what I do. Another interest that I always enjoy was plein air painting.
 
 And I was very fortunate to be invited to travel to Europe, three different excursions with my friend and mentor, Lynn Soulier. Each year, about 10 Canadian artists traveled with her. And one year we went to France, another year to Italy, another year to Portugal.
 
 And it's wonderful when you travel with other artists with the same passion and we supported each other. And these artists became long-term friendships. And I have to admit to you that when I first went to France, I had no clue of what plein air painting was about.
 
 I had to learn on just on site. So I had a lot of teachers looking over my shoulder. I had a lot of encouragement.
 
 So that started my plein air painting experience. And since then, I've been to a couple of plein air painting festivals. So I'm going this May to Laura painting festival on May 19th, 16th.
 
 So 16th of the 19th. So that's this year. But you travel with other people with the same interest.
 
 It's just so much fun. And belonging to an artist group called Solving Artists Guild is another collective of friendships I built throughout the years. You know, you have different mediums, you have different talented people.
 
 It's just so nice to have them. Another fulfillment I had is seeing past students achieve success in their own development and becoming their mentor. And maybe, you know, we left it a little late, but explain plein air painting.
 
 I'm sure anybody that listens to this will probably know, but maybe it'll be good to describe it. Sure. Plein air painting is really doing a sketch or a painting sitting outside.
 
 So not in the studio. You have the light, the wind, maybe mosquitoes or flies bothering you. And most of the people that do enjoy painting outside have their easel in front of them.
 
 And they have all their paints and brushes. And they try to put something that inspires them onto their canvas or their paper. It's sitting outside.
 
 You don't know what's going to happen to your paper. Sometimes I have maybe a half hour to sit and sketch something fast. Sometimes you can spend the whole day at one site, bring sandwiches and coffee, and you just don't know how it's going to turn out.
 
 So a lot of times I bring a lot of my camera on my phone, take pictures. Because when the light moves and the shadows being cast, you only have about two minutes sometimes. So I capture the light and the shadows right away when I see it.
 
 So that way I can always add those shadows later, about an hour from then. Because it can go back in the cloud. But it's spontaneous.
 
 I'm a watercolor artist. So the wind helps me get to the next part. I instead of using a blow dryer in the studio, the sunlight and the wind dries it.
 
 I go with oil painters or acrylic painters sometimes. So again, we all go to that same site. And we all turn out a little bit different.
 
 Their view might be different than mine. And one time an oil painter was about 20 feet behind me. She did a sketch of me painting in the front of this river.
 
 And so she gave me her painting of me painting. And so I couldn't resist it when I got to a point that I took a picture of her. And I gave her a watercolor.
 
 I did it for my studio though. And I gave it as a gift to her. So it was quite nice.
 
 Has being an artist opened you up to new ways of seeing and thinking because of how you explore your mediums, as well as how you explore teaching abroad and through workshops? Do you see your practice as encouraging you to deepen friendships with colleagues and students? Or has it had a different outcome? I do traditional watercolors as well. So just straight either watercolors and maybe pen and watercolors. But I've also tried to do a series.
 
 I always add another type of form with watercolors with scratch art, photography, and batik. You're probably wondering what I do with photography. But the photography and watercolors is a little different too.
 
 With my photograph, let's just say, for example, a cone flower garden. I take a picture of it. I print it off.
 
 And then I cut a mat board, say 8 by 10 mat board. And I cut a hole inside. And I slide the photograph inside.
 
 And I sketch out from my photograph. So like the leaf is maybe half seen on the photograph. I sketch it out of it.
 
 And then I paint watercolors to match the color what I see in the leaf. So you really don't see the difference between the photograph and the painting. Does that make sense? I'm not sure.
 
 I'm like, wait a minute. So you slip the photo into the paper in the mat board. And then you... Yeah, in the mat board.
 
 Yeah. Then you draw out, let's just say, for a flower is half from the little hole that you made in the mat board. And you draw out of it.
 
 So you finish the petal. You finish the leaf. You finish the stem onto your mat board.
 
 You're sketching it. And then you paint in your studio, I'm saying. And you're matching.
 
 You're trying to color matching to what you see in the photograph. So you really get to know your pigments of mixing your colors that way. You're trying to match exactly what you see in the photographs.
 
 And then you finish. You can't tell where the photograph begins, their ends, and where you're painting. It begins.
 
 It's a little bit different. In the mat board. Yes, in the mat board.
 
 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's a different technique.
 
 Yeah, it's a different technique. And using watercolor, the scratch art is something different too. So now the scratch art, the board or the paper is covered with India ink.
 
 And you're taking your scratch art, your India ink off by scratching it off. And then if you want some color, you can just add watercolors to that spot. So all of a sudden you get all black.
 
 You've got sketch watercolors on top of your scratch art. It's a little bit different too. So I love playing all the time.
 
 But going back to your question, sorry, I don't feel there's competition with other watercolor artists in our local area. Because we all approach our references differently, our art differently. And even in my past students, I try to encourage them to develop their own style.
 
 They're trying to develop their own by their own photo references and not follow mine. So that's a good example. Has Hanover, Ontario influenced your subject matter for your works? Or do you find your choices ephemeral, transcendental? Or do you simply choose them by whatever mood you happen to be in? Although I guess you just sort of explained that with all your different answers.
 
 But I guess you could probably expand on it. Or does your creative process have a different process? Okay, this is sort of an extension of the last question. Your choice of musical instruments as one of your subjects intrigues me.
 
 Is it from your enjoyment of music or from previously playing in instruments that made you choose them as your subject? Yeah, I guess it would really teach you or show you the beauty in the craftsmanship of all the instruments. I think when I sit in Hanover outside with my ease-on sketchbook, I could choose whatever subject I want to leave in or leave out. Many times I leave, I rely on a photo of a scene or a memory I have of that.
 
 And when I do sketching, I have an art plein air painting journal. And I put other senses in there. After I finish my sketch or my painting, I do a little description on the corner of it.
 
 And I say, if there's sounds of a schoolyard nearby, children laughing. Or I can smell the bakery just from fresh bread. Or I describe the weather.
 
 Is it hot or humid? Or is it mosquitoes or horseflies? Pretty bad. So when I go back and look at the art journal, when I look at my artwork and reread my description, it brings me back to that same spot and moment of a time. And we'll be right back.
 
 My musical instrument series was inspired when I purchased my piano. Throughout the years, I've always wanted to learn how to play. And after a few years of taking lessons, I decided that it's not for me.
 
 When I, instead of practicing for an hour on the piano, and choosing the hour to play or to paint, I always go back to my painting. So I was not very good in my practicing. So unfortunately, I didn't go any further after three years of taking piano lessons.
 
 I did play the guitar when I was in high school, but that was in high school. But it encouraged me to look at all their other instruments. And I thought, this year, I thought, you know what? I don't know what a cello looks like, you know, for doing a painting of a violin or drums or a piano or a keyboard.
 
 When I was on the Queen Mary II the first time, I took photographs of the keyboard that was at the ship with the natural light that's hitting all the keyboard. And as well as their drums, just sparkling. So I use that for references to begin my series of musical instruments.
 
 But just to investigate each instrument, how that string was on that violin or cello, it really intrigued me of that. And I'm glad I did it. But I really learned a lot about painting by doing the musical instruments.
 
 All right, well, we're done with our questions for the interview today. So I don't know if you wanted to add anything else. I will be providing your contact information in the description of the interview when it's complete.
 
 And if you want to add anything else, now's the time. Well, I'd just like to say thank you, Carolyn. I've never thought of doing a podcast.
 
 So this was an interesting experience. And I really appreciate you reaching out to me. And yeah, so but I always enjoy showing and showing my passion to others.
 
 So I do really appreciate you with your interview. No problem. I love doing them, just finding out what makes artists tick, you know, what's their secrets and their inspirations and their and you know, how to get into their imaginations.
 
 And yeah, I just find it really intriguing. So okay, great. All right.
 
 Thank you so much, Bev Morgan, for your interview today. And I will keep in touch. And maybe we can do this again later on and see where you're at with your creativity.
 
 All right. Thank you. Thank you, Carolyn.
 
 Have a great day. You too. Okay, take care.
 
 Bye. Bye. Join me next time as I go down another rabbit hole with another creative professional on their insights, their inspirations, and their ingenuity.