Hi, I’m Anne Butera
Welcome to my little corner of the internet. So glad to have you here.
I’m an artist, teacher, blogger and gardener, but I used to believe I couldn’t draw and was definitely NOT an artist.
Eventually I stopped listening to the negative voice in my head and in 2010 I began teaching myself how to paint.
Over the years I’ve developed a passion for sharing what I’ve learned on my creative journey and encouraging you on yours.
Let’s discover joy and delight in the magic of nature together.
My Giant Strawberry grew from a seed planted long ago, a tiny grain of possibility.
When I was a child, our little suburban backyard sprawled in my imagination like a hundred-acre wood or secret garden, the most ordinary bits of nature glimmered like magic and fed my imagination.
In kindergarten I got in trouble for telling stories about my pet giraffe and the giant strawberry in my backyard, but what I really noticed in our garden was no less magical.
The thrill of the first flower unfurling in spring.
The bliss of a sun-warm tomato eaten straight from the vine.
The perfection of a handful of acorns pocketed on a walk.
I look back on my kindergarten self with such affection. Her imagination, her wonder, her fearless creativity.
As I grew up I abandoned art-making and lost some of my wonder. I hit my thirties and I knew something was missing from my life.
I imagine my kindergarten self taking me by the hand and guiding me on the first steps of my creative journey.
One of the first steps I took was starting a blog.
Yearning to regain my childlike belief in wonder, I named it My Giant Strawberry.
My path has meandered.
There have been detours and delays, setbacks and failures.
I didn’t have a clear idea of where I was headed when I set out on my journey, yet each step was a deliberate choice to look for joy, to see light in the darkness, to embrace creativity.
When I chose My Giant Strawberry for the name of that long-ago abandoned blog, I had no idea where my childhood self would lead me.
I didn’t know the seed planted in childhood would grow and flourish and eventually produce
the biggest strawberry I could ever have imagined.
That giant strawberry is a belief in beauty.
In creativity.
In joy.
As I taught myself how to make art, I stumbled and backtracked and failed and started over.
I found sanctuary in my garden.
I fell in love with watercolor.
And I developed a passion for sharing what I’d learned and encouraging others.
And so today I invite you to join me.
In regaining your sense of wonder.
In reclaiming your creativity.
