Today I spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas for an upcoming project. Gathering my sketch pad, I cruised through the pages looking for a good sized blank spot. The homework assignment at the end of lesson one in the online class I took was to start thinking of an image for the fiber collage using clip art or coloring books, and clipping images from magazines or other imagery sources for inspiration. My notes are voluminous. My work...zero. Does the doodling of ideas count as art or even starting art?
Next I found myself looking at ideas for other projects like Teesha Moore's fabric journals (would I even use one?) which incorporate a lot of the same basic techniques as Susan Sorrell's work, layering fabric, embelishing with embroidery stitches or beads. Still, I have nothing but notes on paper to show for the day.
So why don't I get past this step? Thinking back on many other things I've always wanted to try but didn't, I finally have to admit to myself that I'm still afraid of failure, afraid as being perceived as a joke or as an insult to other artists by calling myself an artist. When my husband and I went to the Laguna Arts Festival and visited the booths of artists at each of the three venues, he would often mention that I am an artist and I was immediately horrified and tried to brush it off and change the subject. No matter how much I try to talk myself into believing in myself, I just don't.
My lack of confidence does not squash my lack of desire to be better. However, it does squash my ability to just get started. Now what? My inner critic is saying that I SHOULD be embarrassed and should hide what I make. If I never have to show anyone, will that give me the mental permission to go beyond planning a project and allow me to get my hands dirty.
If I don't do something now, I'll never do it. I have had a long stretch of time now to get dirty and make something, but I use the laundry or bursts of cat fur (and yes, I do think they blow it off in bursts to amuse themselves, the rotten furballs that should be bald) to be too busy to make something, thus safe from failure. I'm beginning to think I need therapy more than I need art classes!!!
Step one: Put away the darned art books and magazines.
Step two: Sit at the studio desk and....do SOMEthing.
It's time.
July 14, 2013
July 8, 2013
Finding a Fix
These past few days I've been feeling very depressed and angry, bored and uninspired, disappointed, sad and emotionally stagnant. At the end of the day, I feel more and more like I'm becoming all of the things about my mother that I despised. She was miserable around the family, but clearly able to perk up and have loads of laughs and fun around others. Why not at home? Now I find myself in the same position. I have grown weary of my own hurt feelings. I am worn down by feeling so unhappy at home, finding happiness in the company of anyone but my own family. I think back to those days of avoiding my depressed mother and my angry father, trying to remember positive things about them and my childhood, though it is a challenge to come up with much.
I remember that my mother had a beautiful singing voice. She talked about painting, but I could only vaguely remember seeing one watercolor she created of a little bird back when I was in high school. I mentioned this to my sister recently, and she surprised me by telling me she had the painting and would send it to me. This is it. This is the one and only piece of art left by my mom prior to her death in 1996 at age 63.
I found it odd that she dated it '86 because I left home in '78 and saw the painting about two years earlier. She also signed it P. Carter-Carlson and while her first name was Patsy, she never, ever answered to that Patsy, and never used her maiden name. Her family referred to her as Patty, but the rest of the world referred to her by her preferred middle name of Carole. Odd.
Today I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how I was going to find a fix to my mood, my lack of motivation, and stop the self-pity party. Trying to cheer oneself is not easy! However, I can't stand my own company, so something HAS to be done. Today I received an email for art classes being taught fairly close by, some of which I wanted to take a couple of years ago but couldn't because of my mom/driving/kid school schedule. Now I'm free. I'm actually free to take a class, free to pretend to be more artist than mother. As luck would have it, the single-day class being offered on what was the day I would have been taking a friend to the airport (she had to tell me today that she had to cancel her visit due to work vacation freezes) is an all-day course in simple soldering. Given my most amusing and dangerous soldering results, this was perfect timing. I signed up for the class, paid for it (no backing out now!) and emailed the instructor about purchasing one of the few supplies kits she is assembling for sale.
While I've wasted a good portion of the day feeling sorry for myself, I did manage the first, albeit gentle, kick in the behind to fix what is ailing me. It's not dark yet. I have time to start collecting bits and pieces, photographs and papers for the class next month.
Onward and upward. If this doesn't make me feel better, I'm going to give the cat a haircut that will give me chuckles for a while. That always works ;-)
I remember that my mother had a beautiful singing voice. She talked about painting, but I could only vaguely remember seeing one watercolor she created of a little bird back when I was in high school. I mentioned this to my sister recently, and she surprised me by telling me she had the painting and would send it to me. This is it. This is the one and only piece of art left by my mom prior to her death in 1996 at age 63.
I found it odd that she dated it '86 because I left home in '78 and saw the painting about two years earlier. She also signed it P. Carter-Carlson and while her first name was Patsy, she never, ever answered to that Patsy, and never used her maiden name. Her family referred to her as Patty, but the rest of the world referred to her by her preferred middle name of Carole. Odd.
Today I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how I was going to find a fix to my mood, my lack of motivation, and stop the self-pity party. Trying to cheer oneself is not easy! However, I can't stand my own company, so something HAS to be done. Today I received an email for art classes being taught fairly close by, some of which I wanted to take a couple of years ago but couldn't because of my mom/driving/kid school schedule. Now I'm free. I'm actually free to take a class, free to pretend to be more artist than mother. As luck would have it, the single-day class being offered on what was the day I would have been taking a friend to the airport (she had to tell me today that she had to cancel her visit due to work vacation freezes) is an all-day course in simple soldering. Given my most amusing and dangerous soldering results, this was perfect timing. I signed up for the class, paid for it (no backing out now!) and emailed the instructor about purchasing one of the few supplies kits she is assembling for sale.
While I've wasted a good portion of the day feeling sorry for myself, I did manage the first, albeit gentle, kick in the behind to fix what is ailing me. It's not dark yet. I have time to start collecting bits and pieces, photographs and papers for the class next month.
Onward and upward. If this doesn't make me feel better, I'm going to give the cat a haircut that will give me chuckles for a while. That always works ;-)
June 12, 2013
The Last Ride, A New Journey
It sounds like a cowboy movie title. This morning, I woke up the computer to check traffic conditions for the earlier-than-usual trip to the high school with my son. My Facebook page was open and I saw a comment posted by my cousin whose son is graduating from high school today. She was debating how much tissue she'd need, knowing she would be a sobbing mess, saying goodbye to the years of watching him grow up, watching him play baseball, and now moving on to real adulthood. I shouldn't have looked at it. I got in the car with Kevin, we started driving and I glanced over at him and told him, "Well, this is it. This is the last morning drive to school together. Ever." He pointed out that we have graduation tomorrow, but that's not the same thing. I tried really hard not to let him see my eyes well with tears or my chin quiver; the kids make fun of me for how easily I cry over things like that. It hit me harder than I'd expected. Trust me, I won't miss the miserable drive. Yesterday, I experienced a 4 foot long piece of 2x4 lumber whirling like a helicopter blade toward my windshield on the freeway, both of us traveling at high speed, and managed to slam on the brakes without getting hit from behind so that it hit the lower front portion of my van and exploded into toothpicks instead of smashing into the windshield and killing me. I can happily say goodbye to road hazards, fools that run red lights, and endless construction zones (I must have passed 1,942 orange cones today in roads that were made narrow and crowded due to road construction). Life changed for me today.
Having time for art is going to be great. That's what I keep telling myself. This is what I've wanted for years, and now here it is. Excited to dip my toes into the studio for a while and blow off laundry (OK, I did two loads at the same time since the machines are in the "studio"), I thought I'd give soldering another try. I don't want to say it was a total flop, but BOY was it a total flop! However, I will not be deterred! After trying the solder that already had flux in it (what a mess), I tried the fatter solder and the flux paste. Hmmm. Was it supposed to need stirring? There are no instructions about how much. Did the copper tape wrap over the edges enough, or should I have used wider copper? If I get flux on the glass beyond the edge of the copper tape, will the solder stick? Clearly, THIS is what "self taught" means. It means making messes, having absolutely no idea what I'm doing and just learning by trial and error. If only I could get to the trial and "success!" part. Here is today's debacle...
<- -="" and="" be="" front="" the="" this="" would=""> is the goofy back made from doodling with a pen and watercolor paints. What a hot mess! I think there was too much flux and I do believe I have proven that flux can be fried.
So before I set everything on fire with blobs of molten solder, I unplugged the iron and let it rest and cool. (Of course, I'm totally paranoid and thought I smelled burning, but I think it's a neighbor grilling burgers - whew!) This would be a good time to get out my old sketch book and look at old ideas and see if anything triggers a creative nudge. I look at a long list of words on one page and realize I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking. Really. What was I thinking? How bad an art journaler (is that a real word?) can I be if I don't know what the heck I was thinking? I'll just make something up. That's creativity! Bahaha. I think this was my brainstorm for an online class I signed up for with Susan Sorrell. Good grief.
So tomorrow, I'm a full-time artist-wanna-be.
Mom When They Need Me, Time for Art at Last
Having time for art is going to be great. That's what I keep telling myself. This is what I've wanted for years, and now here it is. Excited to dip my toes into the studio for a while and blow off laundry (OK, I did two loads at the same time since the machines are in the "studio"), I thought I'd give soldering another try. I don't want to say it was a total flop, but BOY was it a total flop! However, I will not be deterred! After trying the solder that already had flux in it (what a mess), I tried the fatter solder and the flux paste. Hmmm. Was it supposed to need stirring? There are no instructions about how much. Did the copper tape wrap over the edges enough, or should I have used wider copper? If I get flux on the glass beyond the edge of the copper tape, will the solder stick? Clearly, THIS is what "self taught" means. It means making messes, having absolutely no idea what I'm doing and just learning by trial and error. If only I could get to the trial and "success!" part. Here is today's debacle...
 |
<- -="" and="" be="" front="" the="" this="" would=""> is the goofy back made from doodling with a pen and watercolor paints. What a hot mess! I think there was too much flux and I do believe I have proven that flux can be fried.
So before I set everything on fire with blobs of molten solder, I unplugged the iron and let it rest and cool. (Of course, I'm totally paranoid and thought I smelled burning, but I think it's a neighbor grilling burgers - whew!) This would be a good time to get out my old sketch book and look at old ideas and see if anything triggers a creative nudge. I look at a long list of words on one page and realize I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking. Really. What was I thinking? How bad an art journaler (is that a real word?) can I be if I don't know what the heck I was thinking? I'll just make something up. That's creativity! Bahaha. I think this was my brainstorm for an online class I signed up for with Susan Sorrell. Good grief.So tomorrow, I'm a full-time artist-wanna-be.
Mom When They Need Me, Time for Art at Last
June 5, 2013
Teach, Learn, Teach, Learn...
As my son and his girlfriend wind down their last days of high school, I found myself playing teacher in the studio. Kevin needed to create a visual example of a possible future species of plant, calculating how this imagined plant species would evolve over one hundred million years and create a model. All I heard in my head was the Scooby Doo noise, a sort of "Huh?" It was fun to sit at a restaurant at the beach after a visit to the aquarium, sketching ideas on a napkin and brainstorming about the materials he might use to create this faux tree and vines.
We went to the craft store and wandered the aisles grabbing bags of moss, mesh wire for form, paper clay mix and mini grape vines for his project. His girlfriend wanted to make a "survival kit" for a classmate who will be moving across the country for college, having been admitted to MIT (Go Robbie!!!) and found a wooden trunk to paint.
The studio was jammed with teens and their stuff. Kevin and I mixed up the paper clay, I helped him figure out how to use the screen and bits of wire to create a tree trunk form, and taught Shawna about the joys of gesso. For such simple projects, I was really excited about getting my hands dirty and helping them learn. Ah, I miss my days as a Girl Scout leader!
Kevin continues to take over my studio on day 3, I think, of his project. Todays lesson was about the use of a hot glue gun (don't put in on the desk, don't set it down on my sketch pad, don't burn your fingers, yes, you can apply paint over it, but use a little gesso first...). I was reminded of a couple of rules myself.
1. Don't try to take pictures of your teen. It makes them grouchy.
2. Don't photograph your studio when it also serves as your laundry room, or all of your dirty laundry and related equipment will be made public. Oh well.
3. Teens can multi-task by talking on their cell phones, snarling and attaching phony vines to a phony tree all at once, all while the mom's IQ drops by double digits as is proven by the fact that she thinks she can take a photo of her teen without making him grouchy.
I jest. He only growled a little, but didn't actually snarl.
The next big lesson today was more of a confirmation than a lesson. I definitely, positively stink at soldering. The soldering iron I bought (the only one I could find) came with a solder that had a bit of flux "built in." It spit and sputtered and looks like I parked my piece under a tree dripping sap. Yuck! I also think I actually drew blood in at least three fingers handling this spikey mess after Round II of attempting to solder. Sheesh, I need to take a class. Maybe two.
Seriously, I drew blood! I'm not even sure how this works. I *think* I can use the soldering iron to melt down the spikes and smooth them to a less dangerous surface, but I'm not sure. Windex would probably remove the tacky splatters of flux, but I'll have to check with Uncle Google on that one.
In any event, I have been making art. It may suck, but I don't care. While at the craft store with my son, I bought a new little pack of water colour paints and have been doing painterly doodles with those as well. Those doodles also suck, and I don't care. This is progress!
My newest goal remains to rediscover the joy of creativity. There will be no test, no report card and no critic's review of my work because I am going to make art when I can for the sake of making art. Exactly one week from this very moment, I will be watching my son, my baby, walk the stage and graduate from high school, ready to move on to college. My days of having to struggle between time in the role of a mom and time in the role of an artist will start to dwindle. I may even regret that new found freedom and time to create. Another lesson. Appreciate what we've got when we've got it. I wouldn't trade the mom time for anything in the world.
Good grief, now I've made myself woofy. Time for a glass of wine and a trip to the studio with my camera to torture my son while he's still available for torturing ;-)
We went to the craft store and wandered the aisles grabbing bags of moss, mesh wire for form, paper clay mix and mini grape vines for his project. His girlfriend wanted to make a "survival kit" for a classmate who will be moving across the country for college, having been admitted to MIT (Go Robbie!!!) and found a wooden trunk to paint.
The studio was jammed with teens and their stuff. Kevin and I mixed up the paper clay, I helped him figure out how to use the screen and bits of wire to create a tree trunk form, and taught Shawna about the joys of gesso. For such simple projects, I was really excited about getting my hands dirty and helping them learn. Ah, I miss my days as a Girl Scout leader!
Kevin continues to take over my studio on day 3, I think, of his project. Todays lesson was about the use of a hot glue gun (don't put in on the desk, don't set it down on my sketch pad, don't burn your fingers, yes, you can apply paint over it, but use a little gesso first...). I was reminded of a couple of rules myself.
1. Don't try to take pictures of your teen. It makes them grouchy.
2. Don't photograph your studio when it also serves as your laundry room, or all of your dirty laundry and related equipment will be made public. Oh well.
3. Teens can multi-task by talking on their cell phones, snarling and attaching phony vines to a phony tree all at once, all while the mom's IQ drops by double digits as is proven by the fact that she thinks she can take a photo of her teen without making him grouchy.
 | |||
| The multi-tasking king |
The next big lesson today was more of a confirmation than a lesson. I definitely, positively stink at soldering. The soldering iron I bought (the only one I could find) came with a solder that had a bit of flux "built in." It spit and sputtered and looks like I parked my piece under a tree dripping sap. Yuck! I also think I actually drew blood in at least three fingers handling this spikey mess after Round II of attempting to solder. Sheesh, I need to take a class. Maybe two.
 |
| Front |
 | |
| Back, using papers I made in a monoprinting class I took with Traci Bautista |
In any event, I have been making art. It may suck, but I don't care. While at the craft store with my son, I bought a new little pack of water colour paints and have been doing painterly doodles with those as well. Those doodles also suck, and I don't care. This is progress!
My newest goal remains to rediscover the joy of creativity. There will be no test, no report card and no critic's review of my work because I am going to make art when I can for the sake of making art. Exactly one week from this very moment, I will be watching my son, my baby, walk the stage and graduate from high school, ready to move on to college. My days of having to struggle between time in the role of a mom and time in the role of an artist will start to dwindle. I may even regret that new found freedom and time to create. Another lesson. Appreciate what we've got when we've got it. I wouldn't trade the mom time for anything in the world.
Good grief, now I've made myself woofy. Time for a glass of wine and a trip to the studio with my camera to torture my son while he's still available for torturing ;-)
May 23, 2013
Introspection = Procrastination
Today was another free day for making anything I wanted to make. Instead, I read blogs, looked at Pinterest, cleaned out all of my sons baseball caps and empty soda cups from my car, cut down old cardboard boxes with which I filled the recycling bin (and found the legs to a new chest that were accidentally thrown out as part of the packing material - whew!) and glanced through my sketchbooks. I've come to a few conclusions.
First, while I have made myself nuts wanting to get into art journaling and looking at a million books and web sites for help getting started, I realized that all of my sketch books are actually art journals. OK, they're a bit drab and could use some colour, but I've been doodling down thoughts and ideas for art projects for years, making notes of some of my fabric paints, and making laughable attempts at drawing objects. I even found five pages to which my now 18 year old son contributed. The theme is consistent:
He graduates from high school three weeks from today. I miss the days of creating such simple art together.
While wasting art time, I did stumble across some advice from Alisa Burke's blog. She wrote a post about how to improve blogging skills. One of her tips was more about art than blogging and I can appreciate the message. She noted that there is just so much copying and "idea-borrowing" as a result of all of the images available on Pinterest, blogs and the internet in general. She searches to see if an idea she's got has been done already and if it has, she moves on to something else or finds a way to make her idea more unique. Too often I am looking to outside sources for ideas and it's time to stop. Thank you, Alisa Burke.
Today I am commiting to working on art for a while before I give myself permission to scan the internet, Pinterest or my zillions of art and inspiration books.
Right now, I am obsessed with tiny drawings and paintings. Mind you, I know that I stink at it but I don't care. It's a great day when I can move ahead with doing something I like to do even when I know it's not good. My new mantra is going to be that it's about rediscovering the joy of making something, anything. For now, it's my silly little paintings about the size of a postage stamp. One of these days I'll like what I do enough to encapsulate it between glass and make some jewelry with original artwork in it like this one, inspired by a tiny photo my mother-in-law's cousin took in college in the 1930's of their music teacher.
It's just me and the cats today. Time to go make a mess.
P.S. It's a couple of hours later and I had a great time painting and working on making a pendant with one of those Tim Burton-inspired water colors, just to experiment. That stupid glass is really thin! I had barely started playing with my brand new and just-out-of-the-package soldering iron, proud that I had neither burned or cut myself, when I turned the piece with my little pliers and heard a tiny crunch. Sigh. Time to try again.
First, while I have made myself nuts wanting to get into art journaling and looking at a million books and web sites for help getting started, I realized that all of my sketch books are actually art journals. OK, they're a bit drab and could use some colour, but I've been doodling down thoughts and ideas for art projects for years, making notes of some of my fabric paints, and making laughable attempts at drawing objects. I even found five pages to which my now 18 year old son contributed. The theme is consistent:
He graduates from high school three weeks from today. I miss the days of creating such simple art together.
While wasting art time, I did stumble across some advice from Alisa Burke's blog. She wrote a post about how to improve blogging skills. One of her tips was more about art than blogging and I can appreciate the message. She noted that there is just so much copying and "idea-borrowing" as a result of all of the images available on Pinterest, blogs and the internet in general. She searches to see if an idea she's got has been done already and if it has, she moves on to something else or finds a way to make her idea more unique. Too often I am looking to outside sources for ideas and it's time to stop. Thank you, Alisa Burke.
Today I am commiting to working on art for a while before I give myself permission to scan the internet, Pinterest or my zillions of art and inspiration books.
Right now, I am obsessed with tiny drawings and paintings. Mind you, I know that I stink at it but I don't care. It's a great day when I can move ahead with doing something I like to do even when I know it's not good. My new mantra is going to be that it's about rediscovering the joy of making something, anything. For now, it's my silly little paintings about the size of a postage stamp. One of these days I'll like what I do enough to encapsulate it between glass and make some jewelry with original artwork in it like this one, inspired by a tiny photo my mother-in-law's cousin took in college in the 1930's of their music teacher.
It's just me and the cats today. Time to go make a mess.
P.S. It's a couple of hours later and I had a great time painting and working on making a pendant with one of those Tim Burton-inspired water colors, just to experiment. That stupid glass is really thin! I had barely started playing with my brand new and just-out-of-the-package soldering iron, proud that I had neither burned or cut myself, when I turned the piece with my little pliers and heard a tiny crunch. Sigh. Time to try again.
 |
| Notice the crack that is on both the front and back bit of glass. Good grief. |
April 25, 2013
A whole day for art!
Today was unusual in that every member of my family is either busy
away from home until late tonight or out of town. The car has been able
to rest in the driveway for the entire day. Woohoo! Like every day, I
come home after the morning drive to school and immediately see every
bit of mess, every glass or plate that was delivered to the kitchen
after I had done the dishes, and the unfinished paint job in the family
room. After a couple of hours of picking up, washing, vacuuming and
reorganizing, I realized I was wasting a rare gift - a free day. I put
away the sponges, the cleaners, and the vacuum and got out my
watercolors.
Once again, I cruised quickly through my book of Tim Burton's work and started playing around with pencil, pen and paint. Let me point out again that I have no idea what I'm doing. As I've said before, I quit after a single day in my one and only art class after having the instructor take my sketch pad out of my hand and write a big, fat "F" across the page. Day 1. What a jerk.
Learning to play around and shut up my internal critic is getting a little easier. Making more time for art will be easier when my son finishes school (I have one of those widgets on the computer that is counting down the days). I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself that next day :-)
Back to the fun stuff. So this is the silly stuff I did today, all of it inspired if not flat out copied from Tim Burton. They are about 2" square. Initially, I was thinking of artwork that I could sandwich between glass and solder, making a pendant. There are a lot of soldered pendants on sale online, but they all appear to be prints or copies or clip art, but not original artwork. I thought it would be fun to make something with an original piece of art. Of course I wouldn't try to make and sell something that was a sad attempt to replicate another artist's work - this is just practicing with painting.
Today's bit of wisdom for me came from the fabulous Debbie Fecher Gramstad who told me it's all about the journey and the daily practice. Every day that I play around and work at making it more mine and less influenced by someone else's work, it will become more of MY art. Today was a good day in terms of turning down the volume of my inner critic. I think I managed to actually mute her today.
Today I am also going to resume another practice Debbie reminded me about, the gratitude journal. Today I am grateful for a day to paint. I am grateful for the space to play and for the opportunity to create without a clock or a watch ticking and poking me to do something I "should" do. I am grateful for not having to wear shoes for nine hours. Woohoo!
This was a good day.
Once again, I cruised quickly through my book of Tim Burton's work and started playing around with pencil, pen and paint. Let me point out again that I have no idea what I'm doing. As I've said before, I quit after a single day in my one and only art class after having the instructor take my sketch pad out of my hand and write a big, fat "F" across the page. Day 1. What a jerk.
Learning to play around and shut up my internal critic is getting a little easier. Making more time for art will be easier when my son finishes school (I have one of those widgets on the computer that is counting down the days). I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself that next day :-)
Back to the fun stuff. So this is the silly stuff I did today, all of it inspired if not flat out copied from Tim Burton. They are about 2" square. Initially, I was thinking of artwork that I could sandwich between glass and solder, making a pendant. There are a lot of soldered pendants on sale online, but they all appear to be prints or copies or clip art, but not original artwork. I thought it would be fun to make something with an original piece of art. Of course I wouldn't try to make and sell something that was a sad attempt to replicate another artist's work - this is just practicing with painting.
Today's bit of wisdom for me came from the fabulous Debbie Fecher Gramstad who told me it's all about the journey and the daily practice. Every day that I play around and work at making it more mine and less influenced by someone else's work, it will become more of MY art. Today was a good day in terms of turning down the volume of my inner critic. I think I managed to actually mute her today.
Today I am also going to resume another practice Debbie reminded me about, the gratitude journal. Today I am grateful for a day to paint. I am grateful for the space to play and for the opportunity to create without a clock or a watch ticking and poking me to do something I "should" do. I am grateful for not having to wear shoes for nine hours. Woohoo!
This was a good day.
April 10, 2013
Today's Muse: Tim Burton
In 2011, I attended an exhibit of Tim Burton's work at a museum in Los Angeles. I marveled at his prolific creativity. The man must have visions of art buzzing in his head morning, noon and night. He doodles, draws and scribbles all the time. How I wish there were a way to make that kind of stuff happen in my head. Today I picked up the book of Burton's work that I bought that day at the museum and was inspired to just goof around with water colors and pen. Oh my goodness, do I have work to do!
While I am trying to find time to be creative, I have found that I struggle with what I want to make and create. Haven't I fussed about this before? I continue to spend a lot of my spare time working with my son's girlfriend as her senior project mentor. In trying to come up with creative ideas, I thought it would be fun for both of us to learn how to solder and make jewelry like the piece I had published in Cloth Paper Scissors (which was not soldered, but easily assembled) as well as try sketching and painting. Now I had a reason to paint. This is my attempt at playing around for something to sandwich between glass for a necklace. We'll just call these practice and a source of chuckles.
All I can do is just keep trying. I'm going to put a little sketch book in my car so when I'm waiting to pick up kids from school, I've got no excuse. I hope to continue to be inspired to just give various types of art a whirl, improve my skills and more importantly, get back to having fun being creative regardless of the outcome.
While I am trying to find time to be creative, I have found that I struggle with what I want to make and create. Haven't I fussed about this before? I continue to spend a lot of my spare time working with my son's girlfriend as her senior project mentor. In trying to come up with creative ideas, I thought it would be fun for both of us to learn how to solder and make jewelry like the piece I had published in Cloth Paper Scissors (which was not soldered, but easily assembled) as well as try sketching and painting. Now I had a reason to paint. This is my attempt at playing around for something to sandwich between glass for a necklace. We'll just call these practice and a source of chuckles.
 |
 |
| This is where we learn what happens when we put too much paint on at once and then touch it. |
 |
| This is what happens when we try again and DON'T touch it |
All I can do is just keep trying. I'm going to put a little sketch book in my car so when I'm waiting to pick up kids from school, I've got no excuse. I hope to continue to be inspired to just give various types of art a whirl, improve my skills and more importantly, get back to having fun being creative regardless of the outcome.
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