10 Questions with Carol Wingert, Author and Designer

Carol Wingert is an inspiring artist, author, and teacher. She is co-author of Artful Memories and Lifelines, both by North Light Books. Her work may be found in six Autumn Leaves "Designing With" books, as well as The Book Book, in which she is the lead artist. Her day-to-day musings and inspiration may be found on her blog, carolwingert.typepad.com.

1. From where or what do you get your inspiration?
   There are some great sources outside of the industry that provide lots of inspiration for me. I love home décor magazines and books, as well as books on color use and theory. I also read quite a few quilting/fabric-related publications on a pretty regular basis. The other great source of inspiration for me is travel. Being exposed to new foods, new people and new places seems to get the creative juices going.


2. How did the concept for the book Lifelines begin?
   When my co-author, Tena Sprenger, and I were back at F+W (our publisher) doing the photo shoot for Artful Memories , our managing editor asked us if we had any ideas for a second book. That evening, we went to the mall (as we did every night since there wasn't a whole lot to do) and sat in the food court coming up with ideas. We got thinking that we wanted to do a book about personal connections and how certain people and things influenced us...which is how we ended up writing and creating for Lifelines.
   
   
3. What is the most challenging part of writing and creating for a book?
   I think one of the biggest challenges for me is to make the projects meaningful and doable for the reading audience. I could make something that seems great to me but people will look at it and say, "So what?" It's not something they would ever want to make. So, trying to figure out something that's innovative and creative but yet doable and meaningful is something I have to work on all the time.
   
   
4. Do you have any formal art training?
   No, I don't. I took one semester of interior design at Drexel University in Philadelphia right after high school but figured out that drawing was not one of my gifts, so I switched to Elementary Ed.
   
   
5. What process do you use to go from a concept to a finished project?
   I usually go from an idea which I write down (there's a notebook and pen by the side of my bed in case I get a great idea in the middle of the night), to a sketch, to buying the product and laying out the parts and pieces (unglued). I then "circle the table," which means I let the page play in my mind. Sometimes I move pieces around and sometimes I don't. After a day or so, I know whether it's going to work for me or not and then I finish the project.
   
   
6. You are most often at the front of a classroom, teaching and inspiring. If you could be a student, what or from whom would it be and why?
   One of the people from whom I'd love to take a class is Rebecca Sower. There's something about how she connects with people, how she journals from the heart and how she pays such close attention to details on her page that I find totally inspiring...one of these days, she and I will be in the same place at the same time and I'll be able to take one of her classes. I've also always wanted to take a class from book/jewelry artist, Nina Bagley. Her projects totally fascinate me and it would be fun to spend some time learning from her.
   
   
7. What technique do you turn to over and over again?
   Well, I guess I would have to say that I use a lot of inks and stamps and, of course, GESSO! Love that stuff! They are some of my favorites.
   
   
8. What are your product and tool weaknesses?
   I LOVE paper and have been collecting it since I was a kidlet! So I buy and buy and collect...it's totally an addiction. My favorite tools are a brayer and my Crop-A-Dile...they are used in almost every project I create.
   
   
9. I recently took your The Colors of Your World class on Big Picture Scrapbooking. We played with colors, individually, but tell me, what is your current favorite combination of colors?
   Right now, I'm totally loving red and aqua together...red is my favorite color and I love aqua although I don't wear it or use it in my home much...so paper arts is a great place to use it, especially with red.
   
   
10. How do you feel or hope that future generations will view today's memory art?
    I hope that future generations will appreciate our artistic efforts to preserve our memories and I hope that they enjoy our stories...that it helps them relate to us as their ancestors as well as helps them define who they are as people. Hopefully, they won't say that we wasted our time and effort, right? But, I guess it really doesn't matter what future generations think if we're doing something that we believe is good to do and that we are passionate about. And, honestly, I don't know of many hobbies and crafts out there where people are more passionate than in scrapbooking. Yay for us!

Shop at the Scrapbook.com Superstore for all your Scrapbooking Supplies!
Enjoy 5-Star service, HUGE selection and LOW prices!
Click here to start shopping!