reasons...

so... i didn't just give up. well, i kind of gave up. but it was for good reasons... i'm pregnant!!! found out on the second day of my art class, and started with "morning" sickness about a week later. i find it hard, if not impossible to be creative when i'm feeling awful. plus so exhausted. so i decided to just keep up with the info for each day of my 5-week class (the only thing besides SLEEP i could force myself to do during normally bliss-time: joey's nap). and then start over with week 1, day 1 after the class was over. 

i did end up finding time/space/non-sickyness in little bits and pieces, so here are a few things i made during the course of the class...

a journal assignment: we were supposed to draw as many "tree rings" as years of our lives. imagine my surprise when i was at 16, 17, and really thought i was almost "there", only to discover that was about HALF my life so far! i suddenly felt very old ;) so then i journaled, one line(ish) per year. later, i painted over the rings in colors corresponding to the general "mood" of my life at the time...

an assignment to find textures around the house - loved finding some of these things! and made me more aware of my world around me - more "present": an ongoing life goal for me...

another art journal assignment involving collage and paint...

step 1: collaged on the background, using interesting textures & colors (when i originally planned this spread, i had no intention of a figure in it, but then i found this one in a Butterick fashion guide from 1970 and had to use it :)

step 2: chose a color scheme and add a layer of paint. i don't usually try complementary colors, so i wanted to experiment with it in this assignment... i went with red & green! oh, and i did a little "finger" painting :)

step 3: collaged on some imagery (in this case different anatomical hearts) to be used as a base, and covered with paint for my final look.

step 4: painted... i intended these hearts to be an image of my heart and those i'm most closely connected to: my family... my husband, jason's, being on the right; joey, our 2-year-old below and between us, and the new little tiny one still connected to MY circulatory system (it was also hard to blog during this time because everything i was creating had something to do with this new little life growing inside me, and we hadn't officially widely announced it yet, so i couldn't post stuff!! so nice to feel free to do that now :)

i used a cross-section for my own heart to signify that in all this, i'm desiring to open my heart. let it be seen, give freely... 

the assignment was actually based around a journaling prompt: "i am...(color)". i looked up the meaning of the colors on a webpage misty had linked to, and immediately identified with red standing for courage and sacrifice, especially embarking on this new journey of bringing a second child into our family, and all that entails...

the piece turned out very... bright. :) and where it says "red" looks a little too superman-emblem-y to me, but it was definitely fun experimenting with color & texture!!

the beginning

before i posted this, i had exactly 67 posts on each of my blogs (which is a little crazy, considering that i started this one 2 1/2 years ago now, and the other one, only this summer!).  for a lot of reasons, my art (and therefore, this blog) has been somewhat neglected the last couple of months.

but, as you may have noticed, it's new year's. january first, 2012 (the last year of our world ;). and i have resolved, among other things, to make art every day. i know, you say, i've made that decision before, and even posted about it) twice: here and here. but it never lasted past a couple of weeks. first of all, i'm going into it with a healthier attitude this time. usually if i miss a day in something like that, it's all over. i've failed at my resolution. but now, for me, although i do plan to make art/do something creative every day, and post about my adventures in creativity, i know (now) that i'm human. and life happens. if i miss a day or week here or there, it's ok. but it has just proven (along with eating well, exercising, resting, etc, also on my list) to help me thrive and live and love better, so i'm choosing life here!

second of all, they say it takes 21 days to make (or break) a habit. in the past, i haven't even lasted that long... but this year, i only need to get through the first EIGHT DAYS on my own - then, i'll be forced to make art every day for 5 weeks, thanks to misty mawn and her open studio workshop jason bought me for christmas! :) i can't wait!!! and so, by the end of february, i will have made art every day for two months, and i'll be good to go! (right?? ;)

 

so, to start it off, i did a "blind contour drawing" (you draw just the outlines of something, looking only at the object/person and not at your paper) of jason, and then turned it into a mixed media piece by attaching it to a canvas board, painting, and texturing, attaching a piece of wood that we found on a family walk down the railroad tracks today, and journaling in some song lyrics... the beginning of a david crowder band song:

Lord, i'm tired
so tired of walking
and Lord, i'm so alone
and Lord, the dark
is creeping in
creeping up to swallow me
i think i'll stop
rest here awhile

like i said, it's the beginning of the song. it gets more hopeful as it goes along, and i trust that's how this story will go, too.