We've Been Sick

Everyone in my household has been sick the past two weeks. I'm talking nasty colds, migraines, ear infections and other stuff I won't mention. I have had zero desire to do ANYTHING! I managed to finish some ATCs for a group I'm in. The theme for March was Fairy Tales. I went the Three Little Pigs route. I did watercolor blobs of piggies and houses and then added details with colored pencil and black pen. I think they're cute. We are finally feeling better so, I hope to get back to my Bloom True paintings soon!




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Interviewed!

Just a quick thank you to Violet of Kelly Mae Kreations for the wonderful interview. It was my first! What a wonderful place to talk about my art. Thank you so much! You can read the interview here. Or visit http://kellymaekreations.blogspot.com/ to see her blog. Or visit Violet's Etsy shop. She makes beautiful jewelry!

Lynda


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Embracing the Ugly and Having Loads of Fun!

I am currently taking Flora Bowley's e-course Bloom True. She generally conducts this course in person and has adapted it to an online version. I had never heard of Flora Bowley until some Facebook friends of mine mentioned her. I googled her name and fell in love with all the colors and energy in her paintings. Flora calls her style of painting "Intuitive". She has no specific plan ahead of time. She just starts painting. I, personally am attracted to this "no plan" approach. I usually get stuck not knowing what to paint. With this method my goal has been to fill the canvas with marks and not make mud.



I will say though, these canvases are kinda ugly. These are just the first layers and in the end they will turn into something. To be honest though, I don't mind the ugly. I had fun making them. I just experimented and played with all kinds of mark making. I even started one with my kids!


I'm only two weeks into the course and I have three weeks left to go. We shall see how these transform! If these paintings have got you wondering "what?". Google Flora Bowley and look at her paintings. You will be amazed. She will also be offering this e-course again this summer.


This is the canvas I worked on with my kids. They chose to work with greens and blues. I put drops of paint on the canvas and they moved it around with foam brushes. We also used foam daubers, bubble wrap and cardboard for stamping and faux finish tools for etching into the wet paint. For the drips we used Liquitex Inks. Yes, we used Mommy's good paints for this; my inks and Liquitex Basics. They immediately got a bath after and so did their clothes. As fun as this was, I wish it was summer. We would've painted outside and I could've hosed my kids off.

My First Ever ATC's!

I am a member of an Artist Trading Card club and I just completed my very first set! They are miniature works of art whose sole purpose is to be exchanged with other artists, much like trading baseball cards. In fact, that is the size an ATC is supposed to be. You can learn more about ATCs here. And if you google "artist trading cards" you will find even more info and even groups you can join!

Our theme for February was "Love".




Happy Valentine's Day!

Acceptance

A few posts back I wrote about my "word" for the year; Create. This "word" is meant to be my focus for what I want for myself in 2012 instead of a typical New Year's Resolution. Well, I think I need to add another word; Acceptance. If I ever hope to Create on a regular basis I need to Accept the situation I am in.


I am a stay-at-home-mom with two young children. They are my primary responsibility. They have to come first. I admit that I get frustrated when I can't get to creating some days because of the kids or the housework or whatever. I am also envious of my artist friends who seem to have loads of time to create and open Etsy shops. Then the other day I realized this was crazy thinking. Every person has their own thing going on and maybe their life has loads of free time and maybe it doesn't. The only thing I know for sure is my life and I just have to accept where I am and figure out what I can do about it.



So, I'm going to choose to "Accept". I will have to figure out how to squeeze in the art. Perhaps create a schedule (which I am terrible at doing for myself) and line up some babysitters. I also have to figure out what work I can do around the kids. Usually they are all over me and my art supplies if I let them into my studio. I can't blame them. My art supplies are cool. This shall be a work in progress. I'm hoping the new e-course I will be taking, Bloom True: The E-Course, will enable me to create with my kids. I'll let you know how that works out. Until then, I'll cart around my sketchbook and doodle away. I just have to let my kids have a turn too.

Lynda

The Missing Post

A few weeks ago, I had to delete a post as it was messing up the format of my blog. I figured out it was my Blogsy app. Something in its HTML doesn't agree with Blogger. I'm giving this post another go with a different app and we shall see how it works!






I am an e-course addict. It started last April with a photography course and I have been taking e-courses ever since. The girly above was inspired by The Wonderful World of Whimsy course. I never thought learning online would be interesting. Every class I've taken has been face to face with the instructor and with other students at my side. With e-courses you have to be able to work independently and if you want feedback, you have to do and post your work. Fortunately, all of the courses have some form of community where you can view each other's work and give feedback. I've found life long friends through one of my courses, Flying Lessons.

Through trial and error I have created a list of requirements so I can choose the e-course wisely (the majority of them are non-refundable and some can be expensive).

Requirements:

Ability to preview artist on YouTube or read reviews of artist's classes
Video Instruction
3 months to unlimited availability of course materials

Pretty simple requirements. A bonus is HD video and viewable on the iPad but not required.

Here is a listing of some of my favorite courses if you care to become an addict like me.

Flying Lessons
She Art Workshop
She Art Workshop 2
Sketchbook Delight
Art Play
Mixed Media With the Girls
Jane Davenport's Draw Happy, Supplies Me and I Heart Drawing
Tamara Laporte's Life Book, Fabulous Faces and Wonderful World of Whimsy
Imaginary Creatures
Bloom True
And the one that started my e-course addiction, Slice of Life Project

Hopefully one of these courses will catch your interest. Some may not be available at the moment but the artist will likely be offering it again. Just sign up for their newsletter if they offer one. I'm also sure this list will grow; 2012 has just started!

Have a wonderful day!

Lynda

Blog Problems...Arrg! (Update)

So, I am having difficulty with my blog.  That is why it looks strange.  I have a question about my issues out to those who can help.  Hopefully it can get fixed.  In the meantime, I can still post.  That section doesn't seem to be messed up at the moment.  I finished my first assignment for Life Book .  Here are a couple of photos.

(The blog has been fixed.  Unfortunately I had to delete my post about e-courses I am taking to do it.  I will be re-writing the post and putting it up this weekend!)

I really like how she came out.  I'm still practicing my drawing skills and I think they have improved greatly.