seems like forever

It's only been abut 6 weeks since I posted last yet it seems like forever.
I have been extremely busy with art shows, custom orders, getting ready for Christmas, and working in my studio.

Honestly,  I feel if I don't have something profound to say on this blog then I kinda let it slip to the bottom of the list.  In reality my intention for this blog was to chronicle my creative journey.  The highs, the low, the twists, the turns and now I am beginning to think the mundane, too!  One of my goals for 2018 is to be more consistent with blogging.

Let me show you the body of work I have done sine the last time I posted.

CUSTOM WORK

                                               

                                 

                         

SMILE PROJECT

                   

TEA BAG ART

              

 

            

 

                             

CREATING ART

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT THIS PAST YEAR.

IT MEANS MORE THAN WORDS CAN EXPRESS.

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I'LL SEE YOU IN 2018.

Pottery Barn Art Pop Up

I get to do this again and I am so excited!

Where have I been?

Where have I been one may ask?

My husband and I just returned from a short get-away in Mexico.

This is one of our favorites places to go when we want to just relax and have a little fun.

You can take me out of my art studio but I will just create another one.
This time my art studio was the beach.  Sitting in the sun, my feet in the sand, and listening to the ocean waves comes to shore.  I'll take thins kind of studio any day!

Here's what I created at my oven front studio.

My goal was a piece of art each day.

              

 

                   

 

 

As soon as I returned from vacation I took care of my GRANDchildren so my daughter and her son-in-law could get away for awhile.

AGAIN... I another art studio was born.  This time I made Tea Bag Art.

 

 



I have been enjoying life and creating art along the way.

My customer loved it

I've heard many stories of artists who venture out toward their dreams and of the struggles they face.

A common thread evolves around money or the lack of, that is.

Thus... the terminology "starving artist" became a catch phrase.

I can attest to the validity of how unsettling it can be not to have a "steady" income 

and how it can make you feel like shit.  

Which in turn encourages all kinds of self-doubt questions to take residence inside your head.

Thoughts are equally powerful, the good and the bad thoughts.

I can choose my thoughts which conjure up belief in myself, my story, and my art.

"If I think I can, I can."

I am extremely grateful to have several customers who qualify to be called collectors of my art because they have multiple pieces.  

Words can never express how grateful I am for their continued support and encouragement.

I have a customer that often calls on me to do custom work for her.

I teasingly tell her that she keeps me in business.  Which is actually the truth.

Some of her requests have me doing things I have not artistically done before.

Sharing with you, her latest project, was the catalyst for this post yet when I started writing it seemed I had more to say.  I decided to go with it.

Anyway...

   I wanted to show you about her project.

She found this wooden tool case that's from the 1920's.  It was rich with history.  You can tell it was well used, back in the day.

My customer found out her nephew and his wife are having a baby.  And she wanted me to turn it into something special.

These were her her guidelines:

She wanted it to be transformed yet not altered to the point of loosing it's character.

She wanted it to be a place for little baby toys, books, etc.

She did not want it to look babyish.

She wanted it to be able to be used, alter, for others things.

She gave me info of the mother-to-be  style and asked me to make it something she would like.

She gave me a deadline of little over a week.

I consulted with Mary, a friend of mine who specializes in refinishing and repurposing furniture.

She gave me some pointers and ideas which lifted my confidence.

Off I went.

I scrubbed, scrubbed, and scrubbed followed by sanding, sanding, and more sanding .

It had multiple layers of dirt and grime that needed to be removed until I could finally start making it look pretty.

The best part... my customer LOVED it!

Here are finished photos.

After several coats of stain

I painted the bottom off white and gently sanded to bring out the texture from the wood. 

I used joint compound with stencils for the patterns on the sides.  Sanded.  Followed by doing a light glazing to push back the white color.

I softly painted the flowers with PanPastels.

Sealed it with four coats of varnish.

Until the next time!

UpSiDe DoWn (I didn't even get dizzy1)

Tea Bag Art Tuesday #7

Woo-Hoo!  

I drew her UpSiDe DoWn and you get to watch me!

Please take time to watch my video.

I am new to the world of video taping myself while I create.  I am usually "free flowing".

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel even share it with your friends and family.
Also... give me a Thumbs Up!

Your support, encouragement, and (kind) suggestions are welcomed.

This is where you can meet emerging artists

I am pleased to be presenting my art at another Artists Pop-Up Gallery.

I get excited when I can be in the presence of other emerging artists.

YET... the icing on the cake is meeting YOU.

I'll be there and look forward to chatting with YOU.

Intuitively creating

Previously  I spoke about one way that I practice creating art.  I prep some pages from waste paper that had been on my art table.  (CLICK HERE)

I am in the midst of working on 3 commissioned pieces and I felt like creating art with abandon, without concern of the outcome.  So... I grabbed one of those pages.

I did a raw umber glaze to the entire page.

Enhanced some of the markings.

Then with a  little charcoal, PanPastels, and acrylic paint this is what I intuitively created.

how to get out of your own way

My mind was swirling last night when I tried to sleep.  

I decided not to just lay there.  I got out of bed and went into my studio.

I pulled out supplies - water color paper, loose charcoal, charcoal pencils, PanPastels.

I said a little prayer of surrender...

I began...

she intuitively appeared

As much as I don't like to admit it there are times when 

fear, doubt, and worry creep into my thoughts and heart. 

I feel like I should have already dealt with this fear stuff and it should never rear it's ugly presence again.  

Then BOOM... here I am.  Wrapped up in it again!

I've identified what some of the outside triggers are.  Most times I am ready to meet them head on.  

Then there are times when all of sudden I'm in their grip.

To be honest, it usually happens when I have been remiss on focusing on the good in my life.

When I am lacking in my daily positive reinforcements.

It comes down to this...

I have choices.

I could hang onto those outside triggers and blame them for my fear

OR

I can accept reality that there is nothing or no one that can stop me from being who I am suppose to be or what I am suppose to doing with my life, EXCEPT me.

I get in my own frickin' way!  

The negative emotions and thoughts wrap themselves around me until I feel paralyzed as if I have no way out.  That's simply not true.

The truth is... I ALWAYS have a choice

I detest being in a negative space.  

It's when I do the hard soul work, focus on finding resolves,  make the necessary changes, and get back into my positive  routines  that I come back stronger,  perhaps a little wiser.

I'll remember this...

The only thing in my way is me.

Thank You for your 

continued support and encouragement.

There have been times when I wanted to throw in the towel.

There have been times when I wanted to throw in the towel.  When I've questioned if I was even on the right path.  When I felt like I had nothing to offer creatively.

Deep down I know and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity that I feel God has given to me.   I am a creative Late Bloomer.  I did not know that I could paint or draw until 6 years ago.  It was a cold day in February 2011 that I pondered the thought that there had to be more to life than what I was living.  My life was good, I just felt there had to be more.  I began with  one foot in front of the other.

It is one of the most awesome feelings when I wake up from a night's sleep and intuitively know what I am going to create.  It's the best EVER!  I trust the process and follow.   That's when I'm able to earnestly say, "I have what it takes!"

But...when those negative thoughts creep in, they can/they will/they have thrown me into a tail spin.  It's not fun either to feel so low.  One thing I have learned from experience is it's much easier to "not even go there" with the negative thoughts than it is to try and recover from them.  I have a several plans that seem to work for me.  I acknowledge that negative thoughts are part of the equation and how I handle them is my choice.  They have no power over me, they are just thoughts,  unless I allow them to.  I breathe and let the thought pass me by.

Yet since my fear is about not being creatively worthy I know I have to "get back on the horse" sorta speak.  Here's what I do.

My art table is covered with white craft paper where I scrape the excess paint from my brushes, etc.  This is what it looks like right now.

When I feel the paper is at it's messy capacity and needs to be changed out I roll it up and save it.

Here is one of the many ways I use the rolled up paper.

I take out my art journal. 

I glue sections of the paper onto pages of the journal.

I instantly have the start of an art journal page.  This helps spark creativity.   

A blank page can be daunting at times which can jump start the mind-chatter into motion.

Here are some of my current pages all ready for me.

They almost look like art themselves.  Don't they?

                                

                                

   

Below is a journal page that started out as scrap paper from my art table. All I did was add flowers by making acrylic skins.  I painted stems and leaves.  I added shadows with charcoal.

Rest assured I averted the negative mind chatter on this day.

Thanks for sharing my journey with me.