Barkat Ammarose Ferar

Hello Kate.
I really appreciate your introduction and sharing about yourself and art and wonderful career.

I live in Nothern California in the semi- country in a house that my artist and carpenter/ contractor husband of 40 years remodeled and added onto. Our artist /good friend painted the interior walls many amazing rich beautiful colors. We all 3 love to go out to the bay and ocean beaches and as well as other nature places and do pleine- aire painting together.I was a textile artist , having studied and learned weaving and dyeing at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. My mother was an artist , mostly abstract oil painter, so I grew up exposed to art at the Dayton , Ohio Art Institute museum and other museums and books of art , but didn’t do a lot of art myself., until my 20’s when a teacher of mine suggested I make carpets! I loved dyeing and weaving in the textile fine arts dept.and then did painted warp weaving which led to painting on silk with gotta etc, That led to wanting to paint and our friend taught me about painting with acrylics. During the pandemic I have been taking an art class on zoom for three hours a week where the teacher- facilitator does a slideshow about a great known or unknown artist and have learned really a lot about many styles.

I recently finished and self-published (on Amazon BookBaby), a children’s book wih many illustrations with the text mostly written in poetry and some proseI . I hope to do one more children’s book at least. I’m 72 but don’t feel like it -psychologically at least, ha ha. Our 30 year old opera singer daughter and her daughter, our granddaughter, who is eight, live with us more or less. I am also a trained Waldorf teacher . There was a lot of art work in our training And I did a practicum with an art teacher who taught all the grades art in a Waldorf school. I had a small preschool at home. I also have taught and tutored art to children. I love “form drawing” and “wet on wet “watercolor. It is challenging for me to find the time to do the in depth layered art work I would like to do
Currently my husband is challenged with his health which is taking a lot of attention.

I have wanted to do more serious journaling for so many years. I have a couple of journals I have done drawings with colored watercolor pencils that have added up to one or two journals, but the entries are very far apart with almost no text. I have been aware of Stig LeGrand’s wonderful journal online and was very excited when I found out that she learned from you. I am hopeful that this will be the push I need to be more creative daily!