Monday Memories

It's still Monday, so I haven't missed my deadline for posting!

I've spent the past week working on the house, and NOT in my studio. My husband took the week off and we used it to get the house ready for the market (or to just get things cleaned out, even if we end up not moving.) The first part of the week was spent in my crawl space. It started like this:

My delusional hubby, thinking this wasn't as big a job as it ended up being.

And ended like this:

All cleaned out! You didn't think it went that far back, did you?

We sorted into piles of Keep, Sell/Donate, and EEEK! GET IT OUT OF HERE! There were multiple trips to the dump to get rid of the bad stuff, and now the rest of my basement is full of the sell/donate stuff that we'll have a garage sale with in a couple weeks. So, really? My basement looks worse than when we started. I know there was progress, but it doesn't feel like it right now.

In the middle of cleaning, there were a few good gems like these...

1942, hardback book. 

I inherited a ton of books from my grandmother on art. She was a teacher for most of her life (not sure what ages or whatnot, but maybe junior high? And I think she taught reading?) She wanted to be an artist, or it was her hobby anyway later in life. The problem was that she was never very good at it. Going through all these boxes of books and seeing her notes, I actually figured out why.

My grandmother approached art like you would a clock, if you were taking it apart to see how it would work. She had tools. She had diagrams. She had notebooks full of written instructions. But it wasn't enough. It was all technical details and no heart. I kind of wish she was alive now, and could sit with me and I could teach her a bit. I don't know if I could have provided the missing link to make the technique and the art come together, but I think perhaps...

My great-grandmother had the heart, I think. There are a few of her paintings around, and it's there. She had it. I believe it was my grandmother's mother, and it would explain maybe one reason why my grandmother chased art later on.

The one with the red x is one of my great-grandmothers. I'm not certain which one, but I think it was the painter. This was her class picture, from what I understand. Check the bow-ties out! I actually heard a story that this was art school, but I'm not actually certain that is true. 

This is my senior class picture, the "silly" take - almost 100 years difference. Zoomed in, my class was about three times larger than this, but I'm in the middle in white next to the guy wearing a green streamer tied around his head.

I thought it was interesting to compare the two class pictures. About a century in between, but similar in age and point in life. What a contrast, huh? I rather wish they had done "silly" takes back then. It'd sure be fun to see that, wouldn't it?

Oh, and this is my grandfather's parents' wedding photo. 1909. Wild, huh?

I also found things like a walkman with a mix-tape, and these!

My boom box, an actual record, and my books from when I was around 8 years old!

I then found this painting I did for my mom when I was about 15. The original intent was what you would see laying in the grass on a lovely summer day, with my mom's favorite flowers (pansies) around her. What the outcome was for many is summed up by one person asking "So, um, is this like the view from your grave?" *sigh* Anyway, this sucker is about 25 years old now, how's that for a throwback to learning how to paint!?

We also spent a lot of time working on the yard. It's amazing how much better mulch can make something look. We kept finding nests built in the worst spots, usually by the same type of bird:

Aren't these eggs gorgeous? I wish the bird was a little smarter in his nesting spots though.

Then, finally, I was able to paint a bit more again last night. I have deadlines and such piling up, but since I reorganized my business I really want to get working in my chosen directions. So, I pulled my queen out and started working on her again:

I also finished a few mini-misfits. These three mini-misfits are available in my Whimsical Misfit Store:

"Cole" 2x2 inches acrylic on stretched Canvas

"Lewis" 2x2 inches acrylic on stretched canvas

"Arnold" 2x2 inches acrylic on stretched canvas

I'm hoping this week will bring with it a return to being productive in my studio again. Unfortunately, my website still needs work (and it won't load right now, for some mysterious reason.) My plan is to save that for when it's too hot to paint. I figure that's a good strategy! Of course, I'm still trying to squeeze everything in between summer commitments, (read that as; everything I don't have to do while the kids are in school, but now am suddenly expected to drop everything to get done.)

I hope everyone else had a great week, and a good one coming!

Setting Goals

I've decided it's time to set some goals for myself. I still don't know if I'm moving to North Carolina (I have a "probably, but maybe, but we'll see... probably know by July 1st. Maybe." Nice, right?) This has been going on since February, and I think I've gone insane at least four times over. I don't do well with my life out of my own hands. I suppose I am a control freak, now that I really think it over.

But then, I suppose if I look at how I approach my art, that probably makes sense. I think, if I were to come up with a word or two I want applied to my art I would say they are Striking and Whimsical. (If you create, what words do you want to describe your work?)

Anyway in order to let my control freak fly her little flag (it's rainbow, with swirls and sparkles on it) once again, I am setting some goals and starting something new!

First: I'm going to post a blog post every Monday. So, I won't update this as often as I once thought I would, but Monday seems like a good idea and will be more than I am pulling together now. Hopefully the posts won't be so long winded, but that's also a part of who I am. Believe me, if you knew me in person you would probably carry a roll of duct tape around with you just to get me to stop.

Secondly: I am starting a new exercise that will help me both creatively and technically. I am going to do a "sketch a day". This is different to when I tried to do my Daily Art, which quickly turned into a time consuming obsessive project because I wanted to make it perfect. Suddenly, what should have taken maybe an hour was taking six, and that just wasn't acceptable. I quit that shortly after I started it. *cringe*

SO! I am going to be doing a sketch a day, but I am going to be using my iPad to do it. I have played around with the idea of digital art for a while, but again I went to the obsessive side of things and then had to set it down because it started looking like I was trying to launch another art career - and I hadn't even started anything. *head*desk*

However, I realized that I have my iPad and a really cool pressure sensitive stylus, and some good art programs. I have figured out a way to let myself play by doing illustration rather than painting or creating a whole piece. Literally, more of a daily sketch, but digital. AND with a set character in mind!

For a while, I thought BUNNY! Because, well, I have a bunny.

But then I thought that wasn't fantastical enough. Then my mind drifted to this painting:

Now, he was supposed to be a dragon. However, the more I look at him, the more I see a Griffin. So, what about a cute little griffin? Maybe with a bunny friend (the bunny is gonna be there, I'm telling you. Also, a duckling... I can see it!)

I settled on the griffon, and started in on trying to learn the digital program on my ipad (I have ArtRage, but I also have ArtStudio. I think I like ArtStudio better at this point. It lets me smear stuff. I bet you can do that on ArtRage too, but I haven't figured out how.) My plan is to actually read through the manual and some of the tutorials, and in the meantime start creating a daily illustration and sharing them on my Facebook Page - Starting today, if I can make it happen! I spent a good portion of the morning drawing a bunny before I went this direction.

So those are my goals I'm putting into place, along with working on my other "deeper" paintings (like my queen of hearts.) I'm hoping it'll be like exercise; get me better in shape to complete the things I really want to do! I'll share my drawings on my Monday posts, too.

Since I last posted, my daughter turned 16:

This is the cake I made. It's chocolate inside too. SOOOO good! Except for the KitKats. Turns out, I hate KitKats.

I put the white rabbit in my Queen of Hearts painting:

And I started working on another Whimsical Misfit, as well as another on an ultra smooth board - I'm having problems with that. it has NO tooth at all, and I'm not sure how to work with it. I thought I wanted no tooth, but now I'm realizing I need some of it. Maybe just a tiny bit. Eeek! All the paint just slides off this thing!

And that's where I am at. Next post will be coming on Monday, because I will MAKE it happen. Oh, yes I will!