My Favorite Golden Nugget Moment by Guest Kate Endle

Here is a golden nugget moment that I love to tell artists about. I worked at Seattle Art Supply for about ten years. During this time I was freelancing here and there in my painted style (collaging hadn't started yet) for children's materials. As I was doing this, I was collecting decorative papers from the art supply store. I had no use for these sheets of loveliness and the last thing I needed was another mass of unused art materials. But, I hung onto them. During this period, I had a chance meeting with glass artist Dale Chihuly. It was an exciting meeting which resulted in a possible children's book collaboration and some other really fun project ideas. I was over the moon! This felt like my big break! After our meeting, Chihuly was hugely generous and gave me a ton of Golden Fluid Acrylics and a whole pack of Arches 300lb watercolor paper. Once again, I had another pile of supplies that I might not ever use; I graciously accepted his gift. To make a very long story short, the collaborative projects fell through and I was devastated. This was one of many personal and professional disappointments. I was tired and sad and depressed and tried to take this black energy and turn it into something bright. I tried for years. One day I unearthed the watercolor paper Chihily gave me, the paints, and the collected papers from Seattle Art Supply. I colored papers, cut papers and glued papers. Then, the art supply store started to carry thick edged prestretched canvases and I was off and running. I started a new style that has resulted in projects I had never dreamed off. Finally, those tough times and disappointments made sense. Sometimes you just don't know where things are going......Here are a few samples of those very first collages on paper: