Hi there! Thanks so much for stopping in!
I’m Merry Skyer, the face behind this place, and I’m so glad you’re here!
This is a place for you to explore your creativity and artistic side, and I’ll be right there beside you every step of the way. I hope you feel at home here, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you want to chat!
A little bit about me…
Artist
I’m an artist through and through, and while I’ve been trying my whole life to find just one art medium to focus on, I’ve finally admitted that I can’t. I’m enthusiastic about all art, every bit of it. From wood carving to needle felting, sketching to mural painting, I love it all.
I frequently dabble in all types of art, but the two that I keep coming back to time and time again are ceramics and watercolors. While I do adore all art, these two truly have my heart.
Animals and nature are my muses, and practically everything I make involves some aspect of the living world that surrounds me in my gnomestead in the woods.
I make time to draw, paint, or play with clay every single day. I also make time to post that art, the good, bad, and ugly on my blog. I do this to not only document my process, but to encourage you to start your own!
Teacher
I love sharing my knowledge with others. There’s nothing better in the world than being able to teach others to harness their own creativity and let it flow through a pencil or paintbrush.
I’m a certified art teacher, with a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts and English and a Master’s in Art Education.
The last 13 years of my life have been spent teaching art to students in public schools, from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. I recently left the public school teaching life so I can be home with my son, and now I’m turning to teaching art online. I love having the opportunity to teach in a worldwide classroom with art students of all ages.
I aspire to teach you, dear reader, how to grab hold of your own creativity and let it flow.
If you’d like to start playing with clay, drawing and painting with me, check out my YouTube Channel and Skill Share Classes:
Homesteader
I live with my lovely husband and toddler son on top of the Cumberland mountains outside Knoxville TN with our menagerie of animals. My husband and I aim to grow and raise as much of our food as possible. We love knowing that our salads were never doused with chemicals and the animals that provide us with eggs, meat, and wool were never abused or mistreated.
I like to call our little homestead a ‘gnomestead’ because of my life long love of gnomes and all the handcrafted touches on our little farm, including plenty of gnomes!
We grow a lot of our own fruits and veggies in our garden and orchard. We also raise chickens for meat and eggs. We have one little fiber animal, Dolly, our Angora rabbit. Someday we hope to expand to have sheep and a cow, but we’re growing little by little and enjoying every step of the way.
Animal Adorer
Animals have had my heart since I was a wee one. As a kid, I spent tons of time outside with my menagerie of nature friends… butterflies, toads, frogs, mice, and snakes. I constantly begged my parents to let me get more pets, and many times actually got my wish.
As an adult I do much the same. I spend lots of time outside in our ten acre woods, hanging with the chipmunks, frogs, deer, ducks, turkeys, and other critters that share our land. I now constantly beg my husband to let me get more pets. 🙂
I’m trying to be a good steward to the land and the earth, and working to protect my animal friends in every way I can.
My hopes for this space
I hope to use this site to share my daily artistic adventures, and inspire you to start making your own. I truly believe everyone is an artist, you just have to find your form. I fully intend to be here as a support, teaching you everything I know.
I truly hope this website will not only serve to be a home for my artwork, but also a home for you. I’ll be sharing all that I know about art, to inspire you to get creating your own, no matter where you are in your artistic journey.
I will be here as a resource, support, teacher, and your biggest cheerleader. The world needs more art, and YOU are an artist.
Let’s start having some fun with art!
Where to Start
If you’re new around here, make sure to check out my blog for some quick inspiration. I sketch, paint, and play with clay every day, and this is my journal of sorts to keep track of my creations and hold myself accountable.
If you’re interested in buying a piece of my art, my Etsy shop is where all of my ceramic work and illustration lives, including llama pots, chicken mugs, and hedgie air plant pots.
In the near future I’ll have art courses available to pass all of my art knowledge on to you. If you’d like to know about courses the minute they come out, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, below!