Day 26

Last night I just worked on some gesture drawings. I did 15 second drawings while looking at the page, and then I tried it without looking at my paper. So it was a pretty interesting exercise. I've never done gesture drawing before. I quite enjoyed myself. I think it's going to really improve my drawing skills.

Day 24

So I just wanted to update with some pictures.

This is our art funds jar. It says ART but you can't see the "T" in the pic. 

Here's the front of my new sketchbook

and the back of my sketchbook

 The following few pictures are the beginnings of me learning how to draw people. I'm pretty horrible at it right now, but hopefully with a lot of practice I'll get better.

Day 23

CAN'T GET A BREAK!

Bad things just keep happening, and it makes you stop and just ask, "Why God, Why? What purpose does this serve?" Then I have to stop and remind myself that even though right now I can't see any good in this, God can and does work all things out for the good of those who serve him. So I'm trying to see the bigger picture and see that God really is taking care of us, and he is totally providing for our needs. Just a little bit ago our tv got fried by a spilled cup of cappuccino. It sucks, and Adam is trying to see if maybe he can save it, but I know that without the tv working I will have a lot of time with nothing to do. So with that time I could read my bible more, or paint more, or practice drawing more. So maybe that is the good that will come from it. Sometimes when bad things happen you just have to step back and try to find a new perspective. So I'm going to work on that this week.
On a more creative note. I did start drawing some today. I'm going to try to learn how to draw people. That's the one thing I've just never been good at. So I'm going to work on it. I'll post some pictures tomorrow of what I've done so far.

Day 21

Today has been quite productive as far as creativity goes. I'm making a new sketchbook, one that I'll be able to carry with me wherever I go. So hopefully that will help me to get back into the habit of drawing. I use to draw all the time when I was younger, and for some reason that just kind of stopped. I mostly paint now, or work in my art journal (which I haven't done in a while.) I'm not totally done with it yet though so I'll post a picture later if I finish it. I also made an art funds jar. It's from a candle that we had used up. So I just cleaned out all of the left over wax and I made a cute label and glued it on. This jar will be for any spare change we may have, or for the money that I make from selling art. It will go in this jar and then we'll go on an art shopping spree or something. I'm pretty excited about it. We actually end up with a good amount of money just from spare change. You should try it yourself sometime. It doesn't have to be from art, it can be for whatever your hobby is. I'll update later with a picture of my jar and sketchbook. Thanks for reading :)

Day 20

Well the past few days have been a bit emotional. Things have not been going well, and I won't get into it all but in short we are poor. Well maybe not really poor because we can pay our bills this month at least, but we are really struggling. It's one of those times when it feels like I'm stuck in this darkness, this storm, that will never end. Like there will never be light again. I know that's not true, but that's how I'm feeling.
So out of all these emotions I'm hoping something creative comes to the surface. I haven't done anything for a few weeks now, well since the tree painting which still isn't done, and that's not ok. I need to do something creative, I just haven't really had any ideas lately. I think it's time to go to my idea jar and pull one out.
I'll update later if I do end up painting or drawing or something.

Day 16

Sunday is always pretty busy for us with church in the morning, grocery shopping right after church and then youth group at night. It doesn't leave much time for painting or anything. I don't remember the last time I painted. It's been a few weeks I think. That's a bit sad, but my mind has been on other things. This week has been difficult, and it's not really getting better so far. I don't understand why things are so difficult financially. I mean it's just the two of us, we don't have children to take care of. But, I know families with children and only one parent working, and they are doing just fine. How does that work? I keep thinking eventually things will get better, but I really don't see how right now. I'm trying to stay positive and just know that God is taking care of us, but it's really hard right now. Maybe that's the whole point of it though. Maybe God is putting in a situation where we have to completely trust him because we've been trying to do things on our own. I just don't know what to do... maybe we aren't suppose to really do anything, maybe we are just suppose to have faith. I just wish I knew. I think this may be one of those times when I'm thinking to much, it's hurting my brain.

Day 15

Once again, nothing creative to report today. We spent the day with my mom and sisters. We went to a jungle safari thing which wasn't really very cool, and then we played mini-golf. That was really fun because my mom had never done it before. So she was pretty silly, and we laughed a lot.

Day 14

So the reception for the exhibit was tonight. It was alright. I didn't win anything, but that's ok. Not really sure what I my overall opinion of it was though. I have mixed feelings. But my art will still be up for a little over a month so people will still see it. I felt a little like I didn't fit in though because my art was totally different than everything else there. So I'm not sure what people think of it. I hope people like it, but I don't know.
Hopefully sometime we'll get to display our art in a gallery where it will be for sale, and not to be judged for a competition. That will be so much better. So I guess just pray that things work out for us to be able to do that, and I'll have to work on painting some things that I'll be willing to let go of and sell. I have a problem with that most of the time. I really like the things I paint, and I don't want to get rid of them I want to keep them all. It's my own creation, and I'm the one who forms it from the very beginning, it's hard to let go of.
I'm learning that it's pretty hard to get support for art. So many people say the like it, but they aren't willing to invest in it and that's pretty sad. Like I'm not just posting stuff for people to look at and say it's good. I'm posting it all so that people will want to buy it. Maybe it's just not that good... idk... if you read this please tell me what you really think of my art. I really want your honest opinion. Please. I'm begging you. Tell me what you think.

Day 13

Today I'm working on adding my photos to the Shackle Designs Facebook page. It's taking a little while since I'm watermarking them all first. It's been kind of fun looking through all of our photos though. Right now I'm going through Adam's edited photos, and they are amazing. I'm thinking that we need to get some of them printed to put up on our walls. But you all should check them out if you haven't already.

Day 12

Wow, I'm really not doing so hot with blogging every day. But oh well, I'm still blogging more than I ever have before.
So I really haven't done anything creative or artistic since last weekend when Adam and I painted the trees, and I'm still not done with that project. But this past weekend was pretty busy. Friday we went to the Hannibal Arts Council Gallery and I submitted to pieces of artwork to the Originale Exhibit. The reception is Friday where they will announce awards. That part makes me nervous, but oh well. Then Saturday was the Fall Fling at church so we helped out with that. We worked at the inflatable bounce house slide thingy. So that was fun. I had to go in and rescue a couple kids, one that kind of had a panic attack, and one that just didn't want to come out. Then we went to my parents house for dinner. Sunday we had church in the morning, then grocery shopping right after, and youth group that night. So it was a full weekend, with no time for art sadly. But I really enjoyed myself. Sometimes it's nice to be busy like that especially since I'm just home all day.
Also this past weekend we went into another gallery downtown, Gallery 310, and talked to them about having some of our displayed there. So now I just have to paint some things that I'm willing to part with and take them in for the artists to look at and decide if they want to display them. So it sounds pretty promising. I would absolutely love it, and just getting to be a part of a group of artists will be great. So Adam and I are both pretty excited about that.
Well I think that's about all I have to say for now. Hopefully we'll do some more paintings or something this weekend and I'll have something more interesting to blog about.

Day 9

This weekend was pretty busy. There's lot to write about, but right now I'm really tired and about to go to bed. So I'll tell you all about my weekend tomorrow, but now I'll just say that after this past week I finally know that we really are in the right place right now and I just need to seek the Lord for what I'm suppose to do here.

Day 7

So I'm still not done with my painting, but I've been promising a picture. So here we go...
 

                               

Well there they are. Adam's is on the left and mine is on the right. I still have more to work on, and Adam has to touch it up a bit. But, you get the gist of it. Our only plan was to paint a tree, and I really love the way they both look. I think we're going to put them up in our bedroom.

So in other news, I just submitted to pieces to the Originale exhibit here in town at the Hannibal Arts Council Gallery. I'm excited about it, but also really nervous. I hope people like them. There's a reception next Friday where they will announce the awards. So I'll probably be really nervous for that. I just think it will be cool to have people actually get to see my artwork instead of just a picture of it on Facebook. I'm just glad I have this opportunity. I would love to be able to show my art in other galleries here in town, but I'm not really sure how to go about doing that. So we'll just see what happens, maybe this exhibit will open up new opportunities.

Day 4 and 5

Yesterday I was getting ready to write my blog post, and my head starting hurting horribly and I couldn't look at the computer screen anymore.

I worked on my painting a little bit more, but it's still not done yet. My goal is just to have it finished by this weekend. I really like how it's looking so far though, and I really love Adam's. His is pretty much finished, so I'll post a picture of it tomorrow.

Today did not go as I had planned. Our house is a complete mess, and my plan was to wake up and start cleaning. However when I woke up I found that my puppy had eaten one of my favorite shoes. Then I went out for maybe 30 minutes and came home to find that she had pooped in the house. Later in the day I had to go with my dad to the doctor, and when I got home from that she had gotten a paint brush from the utility closet and eaten the wooden handle. I'm not sure what her deal was today. She doesn't normally do things like this. So as you can imagine my day was a little frustrating, and I didn't get any work done. At least not so far. Hopefully I'll get a little done before bed.

I'm trying to get more done with our new facebook page, Shackle Designs. Please check us out on Facebook when  you have time. I would really appreciate it. I'm realizing just how hard it is to really get going with selling art, and even just getting people to look at it online. A lot of people "like" it, but they don't really want to spend the money to own it. So that is a bit frustrating, but I'm sure all artists have gone through that. I would love to be a full time artist someday, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. It seems that there are few people who can actually make a living doing art. But if I could do anything in the world that's what it would be. Well to be an art therapist actually, but it's still being an artist. So I would love that. The problem is that involves college, and right now we really don't have the money to be able to do that. Things are really tough right now, but hopefully one day it will get at least a little easier. Until then, I'll just keep creating, and hoping that other  people invest in my creativity.

Day 3

Today has been a pretty good day. Adam and I decided to paint together today. We really had no idea what we were going to do, but then he decided we should both paint a tree. So we set out on our quest for inspiration, and we both arrived at our ideas. They are totally different, and not quite done yet, but I love them both. It's so fun to see how two people can paint the same subject but it turns out so differently. Just yesterday I saw Roben-Marie Smith's video on youtube about her and Samantha Kira Harding doing a challenge called "points of two". Basically it was where they had prompts or techniques to try out each week, and they would each create an art journal page based on that, and then they got to see how different their work was. I thought it was really cool, and would to do that sometime. Maybe one day I'll find a partner to do that with.
Well that's all for now. Tomorrow I'll post a picture of our paintings for you to see.

Day 2

Today I didn't do anything creative because my family has a big picnic/reunion type thing every year at Labor Day. So we were there all day. Tomorrow I'll try to do something more creative to post for you all. All one or two of you who will read this. :)

Day 1

So since I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog I decided to take on a challenge to blog every day in September. I'm not sure what I'll talk about all the time, but I just want to have something posted every day to start a habit of doing it.

So today I thought I'd take you through the process of my latest painting, Paint the World.

Here's the first stage. I just spread some paint on the canvas with no real rhyme or reason. 

Next I used some stencils I had lying on my desk to add a little more color.

On to finger painting. This part was just fun and messy.

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A final touch of some metallic paint.

Now I just picked out some parts of the background that I really liked and I painted around them.

I added an alphabet stencil to the large circle, and then painted the leaves and flower. 

Here I used a stencil again to create the dots and i added some ink dripage to the flower stem.

Here's my final painting. The words painted on were just something I came up with when working in my journal one day. 

Well that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed that little trip through my creative process.