WHERE CREATIVE JUICES FLOW ARTIST, AUTHOR CORBA'S SIXTH BOOK HITS MARKET AS SHE CONTINUES MONTHLY CLASSES

Artist and author Anna Corba is doing what she does today because she started being open to possibilities. Originally, she said "no" to teaching classes, writing books and selling her art in specialty shops.

"I realized I was my own worst enemy, and I had to get out of my own way," says Corba, 53. "Once I opened the doors to the idea, I could see I didn't have to be brilliant. There was something in just sharing this beautiful space and using my materials. Being together with other creative people seems to feed creativity."

Corba's sixth book, "Doodling in French, How to Draw with Joie de Vivre" (Chronicle Books, $19.95) was published last week, and she now teaches monthly classes at her studio, which is located between Santa Rosa and Glen Ellen.

Raised in Ohio, she had a flair for drawing and replicating still life that led to a degree in fine art from the University of Michigan. She then attended the Academy of Fine Arts in San Francisco and began painting in the big expressionist style of the '50s and '60s. Marriage resulted in collaboration on three dimensional function decorative art and a decade in Michigan working on lucrative commercial projects. After moving to Petaluma, she discovered that there was no market for commercial projects, so she began working on vintage ephemeral pieces, the line of journals, tags and cards that she had developed while in Michigan as gifts.

Vintage paper has become increasingly popular in the past 15 years among collectors, scrapbookers and memory box crafters, but Corba started collecting many years ago before it became an industry. She had always been drawn to it and began collecting yellowing vintage shelf music, French postcards and handmade paper. She also collected what she now calls dimensional embellishments that include buttons, dice, scrabble letters, shells, feathers, beads, fabric, softened lace and trim.

"In the beginning, I would find things at flea markets," Corba says. "Not many people were collecting it. I was just attracted to old coupons, anything French and the touch of the paper."

She still collects the pieces that she uses in her art one by one, shuns PhotoShop and won't allow a computer in her studio. "I still want to use these," she says of the paper and scissors in her hands.

Corba began selling the functional things she designed from her lifetime treasure trove and sent photos to a couple of magazines. Two large circulation publications noticed what she was doing, and she was featured in the now discontinued "Mary Engelbreit Home Companion" and "Country Living" magazines. She went on to become "Country Living's" Entrepreneur of the year in 2006.

Shops began to call asking about her product line. She said, "No. No product line."

"I believe in listening to what the universe is bringing," Corba says. "I developed a dozen-item commercial line of journals, photo books and girlfriends books. I sold to smaller places like Pottery Barn and Anthropologie."

Then a publisher asked her to write a book about her inspiration and process. She loved books. The idea was intriguing, but she had never dreamed of writing one. She did, and "Vintage Paper Crafts" (Sterling/Chapelle, 2004) became her first.

"Many artists said, 'I don't want to give away my secrets,' and 'It's too much work.' It is a lot of work," Corba says, "but it was completely a labor of love for me. I never expected to make a nickel. I am not the keeper of these techniques. People have been generous with me. I wanted to be generous back. "I completely underestimated what the audience would be. Seven years later people still like this book, and it has opened a ton of doors for me."

Then came calls about classes, which she also originally declined.

"My artistic process is intuitive and private," Corba says. " I like my alone time a lot. I didn't see teaching as my forte. It was another one of those things where I asked myself, 'What don't I know here?' I have this gorgeous studio space. I am not going to think about it. I am just going to offer a collage class."

Corba says learning to teach yoga helped her find her teaching voice. She doesn't teach yoga but was able to translate the process from yoga to art.

"My classes are less about the technical aspects and more about getting into the creative project," she said. "There's a lot of freedom in the classes. One thing everyone enjoys is that they are able to finish a project by the end of the day."

She says her classes are often a gift that woman give themselves so they can get away and be creative inspired. February's classes include soldering, cooking and collage, and art and yoga. Collage, beeswax and soldering are the focus of most of the classes.

Once a year she offers classes for U.S. citizens in France at the Chateau Dumas, an 18th century chateau and estate in the countryside of southwest France. This year she will teach "Bonne Fete: Festive Holiday Creations" from Oct. 13 -- 20 and "French Country Cooking and Crafts" from Oct. 6-13.

Information about Corba's classes, art work and books are available at AnnaCorbaStudio.com.

"I now say 'yes' to opportunity," Corba says. "At some point you realize you just don't know everything. You cannot hold yourself in with the idea that you just do this or just do that. You have to be open to things you haven't dreamed of."