1.11.2009

Affirmation



















Well, I haven't made it to painting yet, but I do have a new "potholder." (I KNOW it's a coffee cup! If you're wondering why I called it a potholder, read the previous post.)

Since this time of the year seems to be all about re-grouping/planning/taking stock, whatever you want to call it, I've been doing a lot of it lately. And I've decided to stop apologizing for being a digital artist! Thus, the title of this picture...

And speaking of Affirmation, I stumbled upon Christine Kane's blog yesterday. The ideas about creativity fit me so well... who would have thought the blog was by a musician???!!!!
;>

1.03.2009

Oh, No! Not Another New Year's Resolution!!!

Just got back from seeing Jim Carrey's new movie "Yes Man". It was a typical Jim Carrey movie - zany, slapstick, very entertaining... and a pretty good movie for the new year. The plot revolved around Jim Carrey agreeing to say "Yes" to everything. Well, I'm sure you can imagine where that led... it WAS funny!

Thinking about the story on the way home, I could see it made sense. For the past 5 years I've done lots of photography, with digital art my main focus, yet I've always longed to do traditional art.


Since I've been in Virginia (almost 3 years) I have done ONE small pastel landscape. And yet I have a cabinet full of pastels, watercolors, tubes and bottles of acrylics, pens, inks, pencils, charcoal; there are probably 4 or 5 pads of paper, in sizes ranging from 8 x 10 to 16 x 20, not to mention a package of 5 x 7 canvas boards.


And the books! Here's a picture of the ones I've gathered up over the last couple years... and I subscribe to 3 artist magazines! But I can't seem to get started. I understand some of why I don't - fear is first and foremost. It won't be good enough, I'll mess it up, it'll look amateurish... I'm sure everyone goes through some of that, but how to get past it? The second reason (that I'm aware of) is impatience. I want to hurry up and get done! My Grandmother taught me to crochet when I was seven and I loved her beautiful white cotton crocheted bedspreads. But it took her 3 months to make one! So I never got past the potholder stage... well, I did crochet 6 snowflake ornaments for my tree a few years ago...

So, I suppose you know where I'm headed with this ramble, don't you? Yes, I'm going to learn to paint - without the computer. Not that I'll ever stop creating digital art - after all, potholders are nice,too - but I'm ready to expand my horizons a little. So... thanks, Jim Carrey, for the motivation!