In The Studio

It's been forever, but today I got to work over 3 hours in a row in the studio. Weeeeeee!

Hopefully I will be able to get more time this weekend so I can finish this elephant painting.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

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I Can't Art Without.... Charcoal Pencils

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I have a plethora of art supplies. It's why I consider myself a mixed media artist. Art supplies are my potato chips, I can't have just one. I am trying to make art every day, even if it's just 5 minutes and I decided to focus on one art supply for at least a week. This way I really get a feel for them.

Currently I am loving charcoal pencils. They create dark lines and quick shading even for cute characters. I like how they glide slowly on the page. It forces me to be conscious of the shape of my line. When I start drawing I do a basic head shape, then I let that shape tell me what it wants to be. I know, it sounds weird but the shape either feels like a "person" shape or a "critter" shape.

The sketches below only took about 5 minutes to draw. The shading helps make the image look more finished than it actually is.

This elongated head felt like a more grown up girl.

This head shape could've been a young child but, once I did the eyes, a bunny emerged.

This circle had a tilt to it so, it became a sleepy girl.

This image of the sleepy girl is my favorite. So, I tried to figure out how to use this sketch in other artwork. Perhaps with collage or paint.

I traced my original sketch onto a coffee filter, sprayed it with fixative and glued it onto an art journal page. She still has the smudgy line quality I want but I'm not sure about the coloring I did.

The above piece I did on an ATC watercolor card. I sealed it then tinted it with my Inktense pencils. I like her better. It feels like a tinted black and white photo. I will master this and find a style that works. I like the simplicity of it.

There is an advantage to having multiple art supplies on hand. When I'm stuck I pull out a different supply and my head immediately switches to play mode. It almost always pulls me out of a creative rut. See, hoarding art supplies is psychologically beneficial to creative people. That may explain my husband's vast supply of musical instruments. I guess I won't give him a hard time about owning 5 guitars anymore.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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My Word for 2014

Happy New Year! Phew! The holidays are over. It was crazy this year with the late Thanksgiving and trying to get everything done. My son's birthday is January 3rd so the craziness doesn't seem to end. He turned six and there was a big party to plan with 20 plus kids to entertain in our home. My New Year starts about a week after the 1st. So, here I am, ready to go for 2014.

Many of my artist friends have taken to choosing a word to be their guidance for the New Year instead of a resolution. I like this idea because it's more flexible. Things happen and my resolutions are broken before noon on January 2nd. But having a word as my guide, I don't feel like a failure if I mess up because it's there for me to go back to. I can always start fresh tomorrow.

For 2014 my word is "Focus". I admit I completely lack it. I am a "go with the flow" kind of gal because many things seem to pop up that take away my art time. Well, no more. This August my daughter is going to Kindergarten and that means both my kids will be in school from 8:30am until 4:15 Monday thru Friday. Wow! It totally floors me to write down that I will have almost 40 hours a week to myself to get work done! (I am also floored by the fact my kids are growing up so fast!).

So, I had this huge list of goals that I narrowed down to 5 things I want to work on in small increments before Caitlyn goes off to school and then ramp up after she is off to school.

The first goal on the list is key. I have to make art every day or none of the other things on the list will matter. Over the holiday I felt my irritation level rising. I was never in my studio making art. Presents, shopping, wrapping, decorating, school activities, cooking, relatives and a cold going through every family member really take up all your time and energy. I need to make art daily for the sake of the family. I'm quite irritating when irritated.

This week I plan on creating bite sized goals within the 5. I have a monthly calendar I can scribble into and a workbook to help me. I am actually going to write down EVERYTHING going on in our lives in the planner. For now, it's the only way I can see when I can do the things I need to do.

On a personal note I am also working on my health. I've been drinking Green Smoothies every day. I've started at one a day and hope to increase to two. They are 40% greens and 60% fruit. They taste awesome and they are healthy. A person can take only so many salads on a daily basis. These smoothies are simple and yummy. The perfect snack. This website has a lot of good recipes to try, Simplegreensmoothies.com.

I hope you will join me this year and follow along. My intention is to post more often and document my journey of growing my art business.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

No matter what holiday you celebrate I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and loved ones!

My New Favorite Book

I love art books!  I find them so inspiring. This is my newest fav, Print & Pattern Kids.

It is over 300 pages long and it is filled with a variety of artists who license their work. Since I would love to license my art for children's products this is the perfect book for me to study. Here are a few of my favorite pages. The artists' names are on the photos so you can Google them.

I find myself drawn to colorful patterns with cute characters. I like the whimsical style and the hand drawn feel. These artists work on their computers but I don't feel these images have the flat/perfect vector feel. I see a lot of potential with merging my art with the computer. I just have to work on those computer skills!

You can find the book here. 

You can find the Print & Pattern Blog here. Talk about eye candy!  If you haven't checked it out, you must!

Scenes From the Studio

 A few photos of things going on around my studio. 

How I organize my inks. 

Trying to clean up and clear out. 

 

Art on my table. 

I'm trying to get organized for 2014. I'm going to get my tush in gear this year!

I also have a goal of doing art for 15 minutes every day. A full post about that endeavor coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dealing With the "Tough Stuff"

I have been debating all week whether or not to blog about a recent art related experience. I don't want to come across as negative or whiny. But the truth is, my experience is something all artists go through and I feel it's important to share how I am dealing with it and what I've learned so, here it goes.

Last weekend was the Black Friday Chrismtas Sales' Extravaganza that every retail store engaged in. I jumped on board and loaded my shop with affordable originals and I lowered my prices for my prints. I promoted it over the weekend trying to be "just enough" without being annoying. I didn't get a single sale. I was super disappointed. I did get more traffic but no purchases.

When a disappointment like this happens in your life, especially if you are an artist, a lot of negative thoughts start filling your head. Stuff like "your art isn't good enough", "all your friends who've told you your art is good were lying", "there are hundreds of people who are better than you", "maybe you should make jewelry instead" and so on. These thoughts lasted about a day or two and I tried my best to ignore them. They were just a story I was creating in my own head and they aren't the truths I want to believe in.

After a couple days objectivity comes into play. I had thoughts like "you haven't been active with your shop until this past weekend. You need to work on that.", "self promotion isn't your favorite thing to do. Find a more creative way to do it.", "make good art". That last one really stuck with me. There's a great commencement speech from Neil Gaiman called "Make Good Art". And that is what it's all about. During last weekend I had some time to paint and it felt so good and so peaceful. I didn't check Etsy. I didn't have negative thoughts. I was enjoying moving the paint on my surface and drawing with my pencils. I got lost in the art making for a while. It was joyful.

So, I'm moving forward from last weekend. It's okay that I felt disappointment but I don't want to stay in that place. I have to move forward and do what I love doing. I have to learn from the experience. So, I will spend time analyzing and honing my business skills. First and formost I have to make art that I love and not what I think people will love. I have faith my audience will find me and sales will come my way when they are supposed to.

Here are some pieces I've been working on. I just love making critters! Hopefully these guys will be in my shop this week.

Here is the link to the Neil Gaiman speech. It's very inspiring!

If you would like to share how you deal with disappointment, I'd love to hear! Just post a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by!