(bright music) - I got started with art as a little girl, and I just fell in love with painting.

And that, it was like one of those things where I just knew right away it was something that I loved.

(bright music continues) About two years ago, my sister gave me a gift card for Christmas to an art store.

And it had been like 15 years since I'd really been practicing my art.

And I just thought to myself like, I wanna give this more of a effort, more of a go.

And so, I just decided, every week, I'm gonna have a date for two hours with my art.

And it doesn't matter if I make something good, or if it's just like a total flop, I'm gonna do this.

And I felt really nervous about it, but I started just the practice of making art again.

And within a few weeks, it was crazy.

I just like re-fell in love with it, I started sharing it more, and it's just been absolutely awesome.

So, that's how I kind of restarted doing my watercolor practice.

The thing about watercolor, is it can flow, but it also, you can control it and have hard lines.

So, it's about how much water you add to it.

And for some artists, I have artist friends who hate watercolor because it flows and they feel like they can't control it.

But I feel like that's where the magic is.

Because if you put water down and then you add color to it, it will do what it wants to do, and it'll move around.

And so, that's one of the things that I love, see how it just bleeds?

And I'm gonna totally geek out over this, but I just love this so much.

(gentle music) You know, it sounds kind of rudimentary, but just in the beginning saying, I want to do this practice of making art again.

And when I started looking at it that way, and looking at it more as like an adventure, and I'm gonna work this into my life and into my schedule, it was amazing to me how all of a sudden, my life had this space for the art again.

And it was really healing for me.

(gentle music continues) I remember one day, one of my daughters coming home from school and I was painting at the dining-room table.

I don't have a fancy studio right now, it's just, how can I work it into my life?

And she came in from school and just kind of watched me painting.

And then she said, mom, I'm really glad that you're making art again.

And it was like just kind of this confirmation in me that when we're doing those things that are in us, you know, it could be baking bread.

For me, it's painting watercolors, it could be landscaping.

We all have these things in us that I think we're meant to do creatively.

And when we do them and we share them with others, it like, they notice.

We want all of the time we do, we spend on the things we do, to matter.

So, we don't wanna feel like we've wasted time.

But I try to look at it as I'm investing in developing as an artist.

So, this watercolor, I'm really pleased with, but I have a ton in my portfolio that I would never sell.

I'm also not gonna rip them up.

(chuckles) But they taught me something.

So, there might be one thing in a watercolor I didn't like where I'm like, wow, I learned how that blue bleeds into that, and I love how it plays off of that.

And I learned something, so I'm gonna take that into the next one.

So, I think that helps to alleviate some of the pressure.

It's great as an artist to be able to sell your work, but more than anything, it's the joy for me in being able to start with just a blank piece of white paper, and just sketch something by hand.

And then just like get in that zone, where it's like this is something that I'm making and I'm meant to do it, and then that somebody else would want that in their home, or wanna come and look at it in an exhibit, is just like so exciting for me.

(gentle music) When I sit down and I create, I feel like I'm doing something that is productive, and it's adding value to life.

It's not ruminating, or being stagnant, or just kind of getting stuck.

And so, I think that the thing about art, is that it adds, it reminds us that there's beauty in life.

I could say there's tons of great watercolor artists in the world, and like, why should I try?

And like, there's so much of that.

But there's no other Anna Spickelmier who wants to make, you know, like, I'm the only me.

You're the only one who's going to express yourself the way that you express yourself.

It doesn't matter if other people are, you know what I mean?

There's room, and go for it.

Like, don't worry about how many people have done that.

(gentle music continues) I am not a like a fighter in your face kind of person, but it's a way that I fight back by saying, this is what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna add something to life with my art, add something to life by creating, add something to life by being involved with other artists in Madison and in my community.

And so, that's been a huge part of it for me.

So, I'm currently exhibiting art at the Madison Mercantile with a friend of mine who's also an artist.

His name's Dallas Nyflot, and he's from Madison, Minnesota as well, and he's a photographer.

And this project has been really fun because it's called "Interpretations."

And what it is, is it's a collection of his photographs with my watercolor interpretation next to it.

So, we worked on this project for about nine months.

And what it's trying to encourage people to do, is to look at two art mediums and to think about, as you look at art, what are you interpreting?

So, this is Dallas and I interpreting what we saw, but we wanna invite people to look at it and start to think about the fact that we're always interpreting what we see and the art that we see.

So, it's been really, really exciting.

And I loved working from Dallas' photography as an inspiration for my painting.

Here's another one I did that I really feel like it shows what watercolor can do with how it bleeds, and it can be so flowy in such a mood, but then you can get hyper-focused and hyper-realistic with it.

And some people don't realize that about watercolor.

They think that it just flows and it can't be controlled, but it can.

Art has taken me on a really interesting journey.

I think a lot about the quote that someone said, do what you love to do before anybody rewarded you, or applauded you, or paid you.

And for me, that's been art ever since I was a little girl, and now as an artist who I'm really grateful people are supporting my work.

But even if that wasn't happening, this is what I love to do, and I just feel like I come alive when I'm in the studio working.

I really feel like what I'm advocating for, is appreciating the beauty in life.

Because I feel like life can really suck the life out at you sometimes.

And it can just, there's a lot of things that weigh us down.

So, I want people to look at my art and just say, to see something that's beautiful to remind them to see that.

And something that's really important to me, is for other people to know whatever it is that you have in you, that's a creative thing that you can do, that it's important and that it matters.

And so, for me, when I restarted doing my art a couple years ago, it was like I was telling myself again, I am an artist, and I can do this.

Whatever it is that is like a creative passion for people, even if it's only two hours a week, find the time to do that, 'cause it matters for you, it matters for me, and it matters for us to like share that with each other.

It's important.

(chuckles) (energetic music) - [Ben] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.

Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

A better future starts now.

West Central Initiative empowers communities with resources, funding, and support for a thriving region.

More at wcif.org.

(energetic music continues)