There’s something happy about an anvil. It started when I was little, watching Saturday morning cartoons. Ah, the good folks at ACME, making quality cartoon anvils since somewhere along the way back in the day. I can’t be bothered to be more precise at present.

More Information about Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner

Unfortunately, an anvil never did wind up being a happy thing for Wile E. Coyote. Poor chap. Of course, he was attempting to devour his neighbor, so there is that rather unfriendly fact. Somewhere in the midst of the beautiful chaos of the desert where he and the Roadrunner ran about, I started to learn that anvils were happy, or they could be. Anvils make me happy. They are just fun. And interesting. In so many ways.

What has this to do with art? Art is fun, and that makes me happy. Anvils make me happy. Happy Anvil Art simply emerged as a good representation for my general artistic philosophy.

Then, there is the “Anvil Chorus” segment on “Tiny Toon Adventures.”

I also like real anvils. They are symbolic of years of hard work done by dedicated and skilled individuals. They come in lots of sizes. I have a few smaller ones in my collection. The shapes are interesting. Anvils vary in size, style, color, and weight. I love the different textures and how they feel in my hand.

The ones currently in my collection are samples or meant for jewelry, but anvils of all sizes are very interesting indeed.

I have yet to create an anvil painting; however, I do enjoy drawing variations of a happy anvil on the back of my paintings.

As a point of interest, you can still learn to use an anvil with blacksmithing. One place you can do that is the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. While I have not taken blacksmithing classes, I have spent several weeks at the school taking a variety of other classes, including Nature Studies, Hammered Dulcimer, and Photography. It is truly a special place.

In this blog, I will share my thoughts about art in general and aspects of my artistic journey in particular, including how-to information. I plan to get my art YouTube channel going soon.

Some of my favorite art YouTube shows are:

David M. Kessler Fine Art, Robert Burridge (“Bob Blasts”), The Art Sherpa, Michele Theberge, Painting With Jane, Clive5Art, and Ginger Cook.

Questions or comments? Feel free to contact me: bymariacamp@gmail.com 

To see some of my paintings and for additional information, please visit:  HappyAnvilArt.com

Written: Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Copyright 2017 María Camp