Taking a Risk

I’ve been painting for a little over a year now.  I love making my “girls”.  They are so much fun for me, and it’s something that I am drawn to.  However, I’ve been wanting to do a couple of other series of paintings.  I love birds and flowers, so I made this little painting to help jump start this series.  I haven’t figured out what the second series is going to be yet, but it will come to me at some point.  This was a fun little painting, and kind of represents what’s going on with me right now.  I’m taking a risk with trying to do art full time and make a living out of it.  It’s a very scary place to be.  I have to depend on myself, and that’s something I’m not sure I can do!  Thank goodness for Kelly Rae Roberts and her class Flying Lessons for showing me the way to do things.  Hopefully, I will learn tons from her and be able to make all my dreams come true.  I’m working on setting my goals for my business and see what exactly where it is I want to take it.  My first step is to get some online sales and do a couple of art shows.  Next I will plan on getting published in some magazines.  This will hopefully boost my Etsy sales.  It’s a hard place to be when you feel like you are alone. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new painting.  There should be more like this to follow soon.

Fitting It All In

I’ve been wondering lately how I’m supposed to get everything done.  Are there really that many hours in the day?  Are you kidding me?  Between the blogging, social networking, marketing, getting traffic to my blog, posting to etsy, workshops, actually painting, raising my daughter, housework, cooking, and all the things I’ve left out, I just get overwhelmed.  So, I have devised a few strategies to help balance things.  I’ve had issues with being able to paint while Victoria is awake.  Then, by the time she goes to bed, I’m too exhausted to paint.  I came up with the plan to let her paint with me.  It helps keep her occupied, because she always wants to get into the paints while I’m painting.  This has taken a bit of the stress off that.  I don’t get to move as quickly, because I have to watch her constantly or the entire house will be covered in her paints, but it does help.  Also, as I grow tired of reading the internet, or posting, etc. I get up and do some dishes, sweep or put on a load of laundry.  It helps break up the computer work, and I almost welcome the housework.  The plan isn’t perfect yet, but I’m getting there.  Before you know it, I’ll have a well devised daily schedule.  I just have to keep working at it.  Instead of just throwing my hands up like I normally do, I will just push through and try to come up with a solution.  If you have any ideas on how to incorporate work and daily life, please feel free to share them with me.  I’m excited to hear other ideas on this topic.



Getting Ready

I've been thinking a lot about doing some art fairs, festivals, shows, however you wish to refer to them.  Along with originals, I think I need to have some smaller things.  I know that if I can't afford to buy work from an artist that I really like, I do like to get a little something with their work on it, like a bookmark, magnet, etc.  I'll even buy a print, so I'm trying to come up with a line of items that I can produce myself.  Of course, I'm going to make my boxes.  Here's the latest one.

I'm also working on getting together some necklaces, bookmarks, and magnets.  I would love to make a couple of tote bags too.  I bought one to play with.  I'll see how that turns out.  I'm really kind of excited out the tote bag.  I'll put that on the list of to do's for this weekend. 

I only have half a day to work today, so I better get to it if I want to have enough for a show!  Have a great weekend.

Cha..cha..changes

I've made a few changes here at the blog.  I really like how it's turned out.  I believe I'll leave it for a while.  I've added a link to my etsy shop over to the left.  Please hop over there and take a look at what I've got.  I can always do a custom piece if you prefer.  I'm working on getting some new boxes together.  Hopefully, I'll have those up by this weekend. 

I made the header myself thanks to a great tutorial that I found here.  It's so easy to follow, and as you can see, you get great results.  It was actually pretty fun to do.  I didn't seem like work at all.  I would have probably enjoyed it a bit more if I wasn't so impatient right now.  I've got so much to do, I'm not sure where to start.  It's starting to freak me out a little bit.  I've decided to just take it one step at a time.  Do this then do that and so on.  So far, it's working pretty well.  If I get overwhelmed, I'm done.  I have to be careful not to get distracted.  I start one thing, and then the next thing I know, I've done five other things and can't remember what I was doing in the first place.

Working on My Style

I've been going back and forth about what my style really is.  Is it whimsical? Is it more realistic?

I don’t really know.  Actually, I like working with both.  The good news is, I think there are people out there who do work with both, so, for now, I’m not going to commit to just one style.  I broke down and decided to take a class from Tam at Willowing to work on my more realistic style.  I seem to have the whimsical down, but I just can’t get a grip on the realistic.  Here is my first attempt after watching the first video.  I’m pretty pleased with it.  What do you think?

I’m going to continue to make some of these sketches for a while.  I’ve got plenty of the whimsical ones piled up, so if I want to do a painting with them, I’ve got them.  My goal is to work on a sketch a day.  How am I going to manage that with all the other things I have to do?  Good question.  I don’t really know.  All I can do is put my best foot forward and move ahead as much as I can.  I’m starting to make To Do lists.  I work really well when I make a list. It’s just the making of the list that I really need to work on.  Number one thing on the list…. Make a list!

Somehow, I got off track.  Anyway, I’m also working on incorporating some tin cans and bottle caps in my paintings.  I’m really excited about this.  I think it will give my work a little bit of a 3D effect.  I’m working on my first painting using these items now.  I will post pics soon, so you can see how it turned out.  So far though, I’m quite pleased.  I’ve also come up with a couple of other ideas for the tin cans.  I won’t tell you now as I want it to be a surprise.  I’m pretty excited at my ideas.  For now, I’m going to work on my sketching and adding these elements to my new paintings.   Hope to have a couple of new paintings this week!  Wish me luck.

Good night everyone.

New Beginnings

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I am supposed to be doing with my life.  This economy is so frustrating.  The job market is so scary, not to mention, I don't believe corporate America is where I want to be.  Just because I can do accounting, it doesn't mean that it's my calling.  When I lost my job, I started painting, and I loved it.  I've always done something creative, and when I found painting, I never looked back.  I thought, "this is what I am supposed to be doing."  The hard part is how do I do these and keep a roof over my head?  That's what I need to figure out.  Having a job is such a secure place to be.  It brings home money every week,  but it doesn't fill my heart.  Without a degree and ambition, there is only so far I can go in an office.  There is only so much I can make there.  I'm never going to run the place for two reasons, lack of experience and lack of desire.  I need something that fulfills me.  I have finally figured out that working in an office 8-5 isn't doing it for me. 

Today, Flying Lessons by Kelly Rae Roberts started.  I can't wait to see what this has in store for me.  There are so many things I want to get from this course.  I want to learn how to make a living through my artwork.  It would be so great to get up everyday and do the thing I love.  To make beautiful things for people to take home with them.  One of my main goals is to sell mostly online or in shops all over the counrty.  I don't want to be stuck here in Chattanooga, because if I want to pick up and relocate I can without having to rebuild my business.  I feel like this is what Kelly Rae has accomplished, and I'm hoping to learn so much from her.  Now, to get to work.  There is so much I need to learn and to create.  Wish me luck on this new journey.  I'm going to open my mind and my heart to all of the possibilities out there for me.

Here's some of my work.  I need to stay focused and remember the path I am on.

Wondering

I've been thinking a lot lately about my artistic journey.  I'm trying to find what's in the cards for me.  It's so hard to know what to do.  Am I doing the right thing?  Is this the thing I'm meant to be doing?  How do I go about making this my job?  I'm going to be taking Kelly Rae Roberts class next week.  I can't wait.  I'm hoping to get all the answers I need in this class.  I've been spending a good portion of my day reading her blog.  It is so inspiring to me.  Well, she is.  Her blog is absolutely her.  It's not just ramblings about things no one cares about.  She lays her whole heart and spirit out for everyone.  It's so refreshing to hear her hopes and fears.  It lets me know I'm not alone. 

My baby also draws half the day.  She has drawn so many things that are amazing to me.  I can't wait to see how she develops as she grows up (not that I want her to grow up, but you know what I mean).  I need to learn from her.  She is so free, and just puts down whatever she wants.  She doesn't sit and wonder what's going to look good.  She just puts her heart on the paper.  I need to do more of that.

I was reading in Kelly's blog about Artfest, and I would love to go next year.  I'm going to put forth some effort into making it happen.  I've also been researching shows.  It's such a complicated thing to think about.  So many of them want booth shots. I don't have those, since I've never been in a show. Then what do I do about a tent, etc. once I get there?  It's also very intimidating.  I wish I could just find a website that tells me what to do.  It's really frustrating.  Sometimes I suffer from information overload, and I need someone to help sort out all the clutter. 

Here's one of my early works.  I want to remember where I started, so I can see where I'm going.