Starting Over

So, I finished this painting:

While I like the subject and the idea of the painting, I felt like my painting skills were lacking in this piece. After getting feedback from faculty members, they seemed to agree. So now it looks like this:

I've been mulling over this for a couple weeks. I couldn't decide if I wanted to completely start over on this painting or not. But I felt like the content deserves the best painting I can do and I didn't give it that the first time. So, I made the decision two days ago and just started sanding it down. And I've started over. This time I'm using the same technique I used for my tree headed painting. I felt like, technique wise, that was one of my better paintings. We'll see if this one turns out better but I feel like it will. I'm also adding a couple more things to it beside re-doing the figure. When I'm done, I'll post the before and after!

Reviews

Last week, I had a BFA certification review. What is that you ask? Every semester (until my last) I meet with different faculty members in the Fine Arts department and they review my work. This year, we set up in Gallery 3 in the art building for a week.

Reviews are always a toss up. Sometimes they're great and leave me feeling good and sometimes they're not so great and I feel like ignoring my paint brushed for a month. I had both of those last week.

I decided to ask a couple different faculty members (besides my scheduled ones) to meet with me so I could get a bigger range of opinions and advice. The first meeting was with our resident Renaissance expert and the last was with Interim Department Chair. Those were the ones that left me feeling awesome and on the right track. In between I met with two other faculty members, the head of the department and the painting professor. They always give me really great advice, and they did this time but, they can be hard on me. Which, don't get me wrong, is not a bad thing. It challenges me to think about my work more deeply and understand what I'm doing. After a couple days. But for a moment, I feel a bit defeated.

I think this good and bad tug of war we go through as artists in training can really help us grow but it certainly doesn't do wonders on the emotional level.

Sigh. All in all, I'm very grateful to be able to get so much face time with our faculty members. They're all really great and its nice to have the guidance of pros. Even if I feel two feet tall sometimes.. :)

Okay I know..

I'm terrible at blogging. But I always come back to you, don't I?

I've been painting up a storm and working on a lot of new things lately. At the moment, I've been painting small pieces of jewelry on little panels. I'm really enjoying painting still life, more than I thought I would... Here are some of the pieces!

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I've been drowning in school work. It is my second to last semester at WSU and I most definitely have senioritus. I keep having to tell myself how close I am to being done. Then, I get a break. FINALLY. Then I might go to grad school but we'll see. :)

New Painting

Untitled, 2010-Acrylic on Canvas

This painting is currently untitled but I haven't ruled out the possibility of a title.

I think this may be my favorite painting I've done in quite a while. I wanted to express a quiet moment, a stillness with movement. An unnamed source of wind only effects her hair in an up flow movement, while the rest of her is still, pristine and quiet.

Graceful

I have been thinking a lot about a new body of work. I don't want to give too much away until I have some actual pieces finished, for now I'm in the sketching period. But, I want to treat this new concept in a way I've never treated my ideas before. I want to make a series. I'm sure most artists would say "duh" to me at this point but, to be honest, I've never worked in a series. So, bad or good, I'm going to do it. If the work fails, then it fails but, I can't get this idea out of my head and its been lingering there for quite a while. For now, I'm going to share three sketches with you, the fourth is on its way (I haven't quite figured it out yet).

Long Time No See

Oh, its been a while since I've written anything on my blog. And so much has happened. Tohny graduated from college, we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary, my parents celebrated their 27th, Tohny and spent a week in Georgia, two weeks in Massachusetts where Tohny met his biological father for the first time, ever.

It has been an eventful few months, that's for sure. And every experience I've had, has been a blessing from God and helped reaffirm my faith in Him. Tohny and I have been together for almost 7 years but our relationship changed so much when we got married. At times it feels like we've known each other our whole lives but at other times it feels brand new. Tohny is my best friend and truly my other half and I can't even believe I've been so blessed to have him in my life.



We were able to spend a week with my brother John and his family is Georgia. It was such a wonderful visit. John is my half brother and we're pretty far apart in age so, we didn't grow up together. Because of that, this visit was an opportunity to get to know each other better and I got to take my niece, Lauryn's, senior pictures (which I'll share as soon as my brother and sister-in-law don't have them under lock and key anymore!). To see God at the center of that family was such an inspiration and the visit was so relaxed and fun. I can't wait to go and visit them again sometime soon!

The main event of mine and Tohny's trip came in Massachusetts. Tohny had never met or spoken to his biological father. The last time Mark (Tohny's dad) saw Tohny was when he was two years old so this was a meeting long overdue. Tohny and his brother Chris finally had the opportunity to get to know their father.

As the two weeks went on, the similarities between Tohny and Mark grew and grew. They're both complete computer nerds, they like Star Trek, they both has sneezing fits (not to mention they could be twins, they look so much alike) and the list goes on. I was almost brought to tears so many times during those two weeks and to see this important moment in Tohny and Chris' lives was amazing. I hope and pray they all continue to bond with one another.

I could probably go on and on about the events of the summer but it would be way too long of a post! Hopefully it won't take me another two months to so another post. :)

Hey There!

Oh wow its been a month! Sorry about that. I told myself that I would be more on top of my blog but, I always seem to forgot.

I don't have much to share at the moment but I promise I will update within the next couple of days. I should have lots of new things to show!

Painting is the Cure

I've been in a funk lately. I'm not really sure why. I have a feeling it has to do with me feeling like I'm being pulled in a million different directions in both school and personal life with a cold/flu on top of it. But nothing (next to God) cures my ailments quite like painting does.

I can't really explain the feeling I get when I paint. Its as if I'm instantly in my own world and everything else just goes away. I'm sure it drives Tohny nuts because he's always trying to talk to me and I keep saying "What?" "Huh?" "Are you talking to me?"

This painting is almost finished. My goal is to get this painting and another of mine done by the end of tonight. We'll see how that goes... !






The small painting hanging from the top is the concept painting I did last semester. The small piece of paper taped to the side is the original sketch.

Unfinished Paintings

I've been thinking lately about why I like showing my paintings as works in progress. I think there are probably a lot of artists out there who never know their "in progress" pieces but, I've always taken pictures of the process. I think I hope the viewer will see the process as much as they see the work. I know personally, I've always loved watching people work because everyone is so different in their approach. Every painter holds their brush a certain way, every drawer holds their pen or pencil a certain way. Of course, as artists, we hardly ever like anyone looking over our shoulders. We get tense, unsettled and cannot concentrate the same. So, while I cannot invite everyone into my studio as I work (even if I could, I probably wouldn't. I like to work in solitude), I take pictures. Maybe it lets you into my world a little bit or maybe it helps you to understand the work behind the painting. Either way, I feel like the process is just as important to show as the final piece. In every stage of the process, artwork grows and changes. So why not share that growth with the viewer?

The image above is a painting I started yesterday.

Valentine

Hello again! I hope everyone had a very beautiful Valentine's Day. Tohny and I had the perfect day. We sat around, did nothing, played video games and watched tv shows. It was great! haha

Tohny made dinner (baked steak and garlic french friend, yummmm) and I made desert,

I love decorating cakes. Sometimes I think I should make a living at it, then I would be happy. lol

I'll leave you on the reason why my husband is absolutely wonderful

Finishing a Painting

Finishing a painting is such a great feeling. After working hard, fixing problems and spending loads of time with a painting, when its complete, you feel complete. It can be bittersweet at times. Especially for pieces that take a long time. When I spend a month or two with a painting, knowing and placing my brush on every intricate inch of it, it is hard to let it go and call it finished.

This painting is complete. The picture is pretty terrible since all I had was my cell phone but I will post a proper one soon. I've yet to figure out a title but I have a few in the works...

Apartment Therapy

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on the last post! Everyone is so kind and its great to hear after working so hard. I'll do some actual posts later but for now I wanted to share my entry on Apartment Therapy's website!

Food will have to wait!

I finally got the chance to take pictures of my apartment. Tohny and I have been working hard (him painting, me decorating) on getting it to look like a home and, as Tohny put it, not a place to stick our "crap." Haha. So here is the living/bedroom. We do have a one bedroom apartment but, because of my sewing/art things and Tohny's massive computer, we decided to use the bedroom as an office and bring the bed to the living room. Its worked out really great and now we feel like we have more room all the way around. So, enough with me talking, here are the goods:

We still have a few more things to do, like paint the ceiling, reupholster my chair and get a bed skirt. But I looooooove my apartment now! Next, the office!

Paint is good

I've been painting all day today. It feels so good to be painting and relaxed. I've been stressed out over my paintings for the last year. I think I took a turn where I was trying to please my professors and I ended up not doing work that was true to myself. I'm transitioning into faith based work now and it just feels so right. The paint flows easier, my work looks better (to me at least) and I feel like I'm being myself again. I'm finishing up one of the paintings from last semester (not faith based) and its almost done:

There's still a bit of shading work to be done and... I do think I should give her an eye!

I have some good food stuff to share as soon as I download the pictures off my camera. After my 7 hour cleaning spree, I've been baking and cooking non-stop. Cookies, almond chocolate chip banana bread, bacon wrapped chicken... And I'm sure I'm not done!

Morning

I'm terrible at waking up in the mornings. I don't sleep well at night and it always causes me to sleep in, which makes me late for everything. But, on the days where I manage to wake up early, I love it. I love the feel of morning and watching the sunrise. The stillness, quiet and calm. I woke up and rolled over and saw my old chair sitting there. It looked lonely in the morning light, almost like it has been neglected. And I suppose it has. I've been meaning to re-upholster it. Then, I rolled back over and saw the blue glow of my kitchen (the kitchen I spent 7 hours cleaning the night before). I wished in that moment that I could wake up in the morning easier. I want more moments like this in my life.

Bedroom

This is one half of our living/bedroom! Its about the only spot in our apartment that I have done... I still have all of my picture frames waiting for me to hang them up and organization that needs to happen. I also spent about 7 hours last night giving my kitchen a good cleaning. Sheesh, I'm tired. But, its all coming together and I'm super excited! So, here's a little bit of a comfy spot:
(Ignore the messy dresser and the bad cell phone picture!)

Re-do

We're in the process of cleaning up and re-doing our apartment. Paint and swapping rooms! I'll post pics when we're done!

I'm Messy- With a capital M

Its true. Ask my mom, she'll tell you. I've been in my studio for three days and I've managed to make it look like a tornado hit it. Granted, it wasn't spotless when I left for Christmas vacation...

See? I told you. Messy.

Blank canvas that is sitting and waiting for me to start painting on it.

A canvas frame that needs canvas and an unfinished painting. There's a lot more to show of my studio but all I have on me in my camera phone which doesn't take the best pictures in the world. But, I wanted to share where I am most of my life. Where I spend all of my free time and where I hide away from the world. Cozy, eh?

Website

I just realized that I never actually anounced on my blog that my website was up and running! Tohny really did a fantastic job on it. :)

Here are some screen shots: (click on the images to go to the site!)

What If I Could Show You My Faith?

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want my final show to be (for my undergrad degree). Then I had a thought, What if I could show you my faith? So, this sketch is kind of the first of many to come. :)

Self Portrait time

I tried to take a self portrait that was stripped of everything.. more natural I guess? But I suppose natural isn't the right word since I have make up on but, hopefully you get it. Here it is:

Not that exciting.. but I wasn't in the mood for anything elaborate.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for my family. My dad suffered a heart attack the day after Christmas and had quadruple bypass surgery about a week ago. He's home now and recovering faster than anyone expected. My oldest brother, John, came all the way from Georgia to be here with us (my other older siblings were all here too) and the day after he got back to Georgia, his wife went to the hospital for chest pains. If not for our deep faith in the Lord and knowing He never gives us more than we can handle, I think we'd all be losing our minds.

Here is my dad before bypass surgery:

My father really is a fighter. He's determined to get better and he's so thankful to be alive. He's excited to see was God has in store for him and so are we. :)

A part of me doesn't want to leave my family right now. I've been trying to help my mom out, making meals, getting dad things when she's busy. I worry about them a lot... I know my mom can handle taking care of dad on her own, especially when he's doing so well but, I hate to leave them now.

But, another part of me is missing my apartment and my studio. My own spaces and my artwork. So, starting school next week is going to be bittersweet, I think.