An Artist's Exploration

So, as in my last post, I've been doing a lot more drawing, lately. I went a little crazy at Michael's, too, when I got a 25% coupon, and bought a whole bunch of different project materials! Everything I saw, I wanted to try. Good for the creative mind, bad for the wallet, haha. I got some more pearl beads and jewelry-making equipment, some clay for making beads and pendants, and some more canvas. These are all fairly new projects to me - things I never thought of doing before!
I haven't ventured to do the clay yet, since it's been so hot, and I hate running the oven for it. I have made some more pearl necklaces and put them up for sale, though!

white pearl

twist clasp

gray

 

 

pink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, I continued to sketch, making excuses not to start my painting project, like, "I can't possibly paint without an easel" and, "If only I had some mineral spirits, because the tutorial I watched on oil painting said they are essential to good oil painting." Well, turns out my husband wanted to build me an easel and he found mineral spirits in our house somewhere, left from the previous owners! Okay, God, I get it - no more excuses.
 I searched through my photographs, trying to find a picture I could attempt copying and landed on this one:

As I began painting, I found creating the colors, picking the right brushes, feeling the brushstrokes and developing the right textures to be more fun than I anticipated! When I worked on the trees, I even heard Bob Ross's voice in my head saying "happy little trees," haha.

1/3 finished

2/3 finished!

 Now to wait for the paint to dry, so I can add the boats...its been 2 days so far, but can be 4 days or more, apparently, for oil paints. That's one thing the oil paint tutorial did not teach me! Stay tuned for the final product, which I've decided is going to be a gift, so long as it turns out nicely.
I urge you artists/crafters out there to explore your creativity, too! Don't just stick to one medium or style - maybe you'll discover a talent you never knew you had. :)

Crazy Busy Month Of June

I can't believe I haven't posted since the end of May! I will say June got pretty out of hand, somehow. I thought buying a house and planning a wedding consumed a lot of time. Apparently, the aftermath of both these events, combined with having an event every weekend, makes time go by even more quickly! On top of this, I have decided to go official with trying a craft business. This back pain isn't going anywhere anytime soon and having my own business, whether it is crafting or pet-sitting, will allow for me to break when my back needs me to lay down. Plus, I really enjoy crafting of all types, so it will give me a chance to explore things I haven't attempted before.
One thing I've been working on, especially, is sketching. I used to draw quite a bit in high school and was pretty good at it. Though, like any talent, it gets rusty if you don't use it for a while! After some fails (in my eyes, anyway), I came up with the start of my sealife alphabet.

My first letter: A for Anglerfish

My second letter: C for Cuttlefish

My third letter: O for Orca

Fourth letter: T for Turtle

Latest letter: W for Walrus

 

So, thinking about what I would do with these sketches to make them into something marketable, I considered doing greeting cards. Not really much market for alphabet greeting cards with sealife on it. Not that I've completely discounted it - it would be easy to re-sketch on nicer paper, add some color, and scan the image to use on greeting cards. Then, Michael's had a sale on canvas and paint...I've never painted on canvas before, so of course, I bought a few small canvases and some paint and brushes! I hope I can do with paint and canvas what I can do with a pencil or crayon, but I have been watching tutorials like this one to figure out the long and short of painting. I used to watch Bob Ross, painting his happy little trees, when I was younger and thought how I could never make such realistic-looking paintings. Now that I've done a lot in life that I thought I could and would never do, much less be decently good at it, I have a lot more confidence that I can create some happy little seaweed. Stay tuned for those adventures! In the meantime, you can check out my Etsy shop here and my Facebook page here! Thanks for reading!