Day Thirty

I really want to dye my jeans (oh man I keep forgetting to put my pictures on here during the day and then when I write my post for the day I'm ready to go to bed and don't do it then either... sorry about that) but I can't get to the store to buy dye because hubby dear has our only car at work all the time. We're working on getting another car soon. So since I can't do the jeans and I'm sick of the rug (poor abandoned thing) I just made a couple snowflakes today. Mitch is so sick of my snowflakes. They are ALL OVER the house, and I always get tiny little paper scraps everywhere.

I was more ambitious today... I made PEOPLE snowflakes.

First I tried a dude. he turned out ok. Proportions are a bit off.

Then I tried a Marylin Monroe-esque woman, who turned out much better. I didn't use the best scissors so both are a bit messy.

I drew arrows to the face that is the best: the further down the fold is when you're cutting, the weirder it looks. If that makes any sense. And sorry the photos are a bit blurry. Shame on my for not checking and re-doing them.

Day Twenty Nine

Another quickie... just made a little snowflake in the last few minutes of the day.

I made it out of a page from a book about tumors... so the front (which I like better) is just text, and the back has a photo of a magnified tumor. Gross, but I actually think those photos look pretty cool and can even be beautiful.

 

Day Twenty Eight

I finished altering those jeans today- I'm wearing them right now and they feel good! Up close you can see my stitching isn't perfect, but they look ok and feel ok, so I don't care. At least I won't until the seams start ripping open because I didn't use a strong enough thread... oh well. I'll deal with that when I get there.

For now I don't have a picture because hubs dearest is out having a grand time with friends. I will post pics here tomorrow!

Day Twenty Seven

Just a quickie today. It was a busy, good (for the most part) day and I didn't have much time. I was about ready to pass out in bed but I had to do something real fast... hello my old friend Mr. Dictionary!

Not very happy with this; wish I had done something better than a stupid heart around the word "love," or at least that my hearts were cuter.  Fortunately (I guess?) I'm too tired to care a whole lot. Sorry to be disappointing. Nighty-night!

Day Twenty Six

I have a couple pairs of jeans that I rarely wear because 1) they are flare cut and 2) they are pale blue. Both of those factors just don't do it for me. So I got to thinking, I'm sure it's possible to turn flare jeans into skinny jeans... it can't be that hard right? So I went to digging around the internet and found a couple videos (this is one of the better ones) and today I started on one of the pairs. After I've altered them (assuming I do it well enough to wear them regularly) I plan on either dying them darker or bleaching them white. Or both, since I have two pairs of these jeans!

I have crappy webcam photos of me wearing them as a before as well as with a bunch of pins in it, but they are on my husband's computer and I want to go to bed so I'll add them tomorrow. Sorry.

For now, I just have this photo of the jeans after I cut out the extra fabric from the flares. Unfortunately I've already messed up; at least in the video she leaves the extra there while sewing so that there's room to mess up, then cuts it out after everything's sewn up. Blllaaaaarrggh that's what I get for not watching the video all the way through before diving into a project. Typical Jessica! Guess I'll just have to not mess up. Ha. Likely.

Ok, time for bed.

Day Twenty Five

I just got a tiny bit done on the rug today. As long as I keep on keeping on at it, eventually it will get done and not be abandoned. But I can post a better picture now that Mitch is home! Hooray!
The rug is over two feet in diameter at this point. 

In completely unrelated news, I am excited because we finally got a couch! After over a year of being married! Mitch's best friend and I surprised him by driving over 20 miles both ways to get it, but it was worth it because it was free and in pretty great shape, considering. All I had to do is vacuum off the hair of a one eyed dog. It was a good day.

Day Twenty Four

All done with my painting! It looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday; all I did was add some highlights. They're most noticeable in the eyes, lips, and hair.

This is definitely not perfect, but I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Mitch should be home late tonight unless something goes wrong - I am worried because the roads are quite slick - so I should be able to have better photos soon!

UPDATE: Here's a better photo as promised! (1/25/13)
I just realized that the highlights in the hair makes it look wet. Dry hair would not be that shiny- or at least dreads wouldn't be. Silky hair maybe, but this lady's hair definitely not. Oh well, learning moment for Jessica I suppose. I've also noticed a lot of other flaws after finishing it... I won't point them out though, because there's a chance you have not noticed them, and I'd rather let you continue to think that I am so talented! Baha, kidding. Sort of.

Day Twenty Three

Almost finished the painting I started yesterday... I think I might go in with a white or light gray (grey? I've always liked grey better but I think technically it's gray in the US) acrylic paint to add some highlights. On the other hand, if I mess with it any more it may be ruined.  That happens to me way too often.

I'm not entirely pleased with this one. I used india ink, which behaves pretty much like watercolors, and I can never quite master the more watery paints. There is so much less control than with acrylics or oils. The ink/paint is always spreading somewhere you don't want it to go. Ugh. And there are a few places where I misjudged how strong the ink was and made it way too dark, and there's very little to do to fix that. It was quite frustrating!

On the plus side, I managed to make the shadows on the lower half of her face not look like a beard, which it did when I started.

I haven't worked on the rug today. I really should probably go do that, because if I skip a day I may never touch the thing again.

Day Twenty Two

I worked a little bit on the rug today, but then was so bored with it I started a painting instead. That's not finished yet either, but it was refreshing to take a break for painting/drawing.

I did a wash of ink and then added in some dark areas. I plan on adding detail to the hair by creating highlights with white acrylic paint.

The face is all done with a watercolor pencil at this point. I wanted to draw it first with something I could erase before diving in with the ink. I always regret it when I do that.

This painting is something of a step for be for a couple reasons: I almost always draw straight from a photo, or at least looking at something in real life in front of me, but this time I just drew from my mind using the rules of drawing faces and proportions that I learned in school. I did have to google faces to see how to get the shading right though. Another step for me: I don't think I've ever drawn anyone who wasn't white! Or at least not that I can remember. I'm enjoying it.

Another terrible photo.... by the time hubby's home it should be finished, and I can post a better photo then. I hate that I spent the most time putting in the shading and that part practically disappeared with the webcam picture. Grrr. 

Day Twenty One

Just worked on the rug for about an hour today... not much, but better than nothing. I'm finished watching my cousins (everyone's still alive, hallelujah!) so I should be able to get a lot done while I'm alone for the next few days. I'll still have crappy pictures though. Boo.

Not much to say today that I haven't already said.

Day Twenty

I've worked on the rug today, but it looks very much the same as yesterday's picture (especially with the photo quality) so I'll not post another picture today.

The larger it gets, the longer it takes for me to get a coil all the way around it. Today it took about an hour to get around it one time! It's kind of discouraging to spend so much time with so little visible progress.

Tomorrow is my last day at my aunt's house with the kids and we've got fun plans. I also have to pack up all my things and clean the place up a bit, so I doubt I'll be able to make any more progress on the rug than I did today. I will get at least a little bit done though!

Day Nineteen

Unfortunately I am without my husband again, so we have another horrible webcam picture, and there will continue to be horrible webcam pictures until Thursday or maybe Friday. I apologize for being too poor to own a real camera, or even a phone with a decent enough camera. It really is ridiculous.

I think the rug is over two feet across now - I could be wrong since I'm not measuring. I'm sure I could find a ruler or measuring tape somewhere in this house, but I'm fine eyeballing it for now. I will measure the final product though.

Day Eighteen

My Lovely came over for dinner today (it's so weird to say that I had my husband over for dinner) and it was so nice to see him! A lot of couples are apart all the time, but I'm not used to it: we got married and then lived in different states for two months which was totally bizarre, but in the year since then we haven't been apart for more than a day or two. After tonight I won't see him for another week or so and while it will suck for that week, after I'm done watching my cousins and he comes home from his ski trip we'll be so glad to see each other that it just might be worth it!

Anyway. I only worked on my rug a little bit today, but since hubby was here, I got a better picture of it- hooray! It's almost a 18 inches in diameter by my estimation.
Again, the great tutorial I followed can be found here.


I also made a bunch of beads made from sculpey. I haven't baked them yet - I'm kind of scared of ruining them. I've never baked sculpey before.
EDIT - I baked them, and they're fine! They look exactly the same though, so I won't post another picture.

You can tell that I'm not in my own house from the gorgeous counter tops and the real hardwood floors.... but it's fine because I love my little house and I know that I'm blessed to have it!

Day Seventeen (and Sixteen?)

This morning I just about had a heart attack when I realized I didn't do any art yesterday. I spent the first half of yesterday packing for my five days living with my cousins while their parents are out of town, and the last half of yesterday receiving mountains of instructions for keeping them alive. I completely spaced (and had zero time even if I'd remembered) doing something creative. I did however pack a bunch of supplies for art-making while I'm here. It's a TOTAL cop-out, but I'm going to count it. And even if I did fail yesterday, I'm not going to let that stop me from continuing like nothing happened. (If I let myself think I failed even one day, I'm a lot more likely to give up on the whole thing. It's happened to me many times).

Today I started something I'm pretty excited about: a rug! For my dining room/kitchen!
I found this great tutorial for cute little coiled baskets [click here], and just adapted it by never coiling upward to make it into a rug. You could also make hot pad/trivet things with this method.

I gathered all the damaged or never worn clothing I could find in my house and brought it here (my aunt and uncle's house) with me. My aunt has five huge trash bags full of yarn that she gave me permission to use - hooray! As soon as the kids were off to school this morning I got to cutting and coiling and looping yarn.

It's only about a foot in diameter after a looong time working on it today. This is something that will take me awhile. Hopefully I can also get a couple small projects in while I work on this so that you don't have to see a slowly progressing project five+ days in a row like you did with the shoe drawing.

And last but not least, please forgive the horrendous photo. Usually I take my pictures with my husband's iPhone, which is not ideal, but still preferable to this... my computer's webcam. AWFUL! Next time I see the hubs (he may come visit me tomorrow or the day after) I will take a better photo.
EDIT: A much better photo can be seen on Day Eighteen

I tried standing on it to get a glimpse of what it will be like in my house, and I love it! It's surprisingly soft. I'm excited!

Day Fifteen

A close up

I barely managed to squeak by today... I had a mini freak out when I looked at a clock, saw it was 11:30, and realized I'd completely forgotten about doing something creative today. So of course I ran to grab my handy dictionary.

Click to enlarge, if you so desire.

Day Fourteen

I FINISHED THE SHOES. FINALLY.  My kitchen is free! And Mitch can wear his shoes again!

I am really pleased with them! After a refresher in drawing I'm feeling good about tackling new projects. I'm going to be taking care of my three cousins for the next week while their parents are out of town, so my next few posts are most likely going to be fun, crafty things that I can do with them.

Day Thirteen

Yesterday

Almost done these danged shoes. Just need to finish off the laces.

Day Twelve

Still working on the shoes. I need to finish them tomorrow so I can get them out of the middle of the kitchen floor- that was poor planning. I've been having to put a dining room chair on top of the shoes so my husband and I don't trip on them. (Clarification: I put them in the middle of the kitchen in the first place because the kitchen has the best lighting of the entire house).

I'm liking this rule change; getting to take my time on one piece and really make it perfect, instead of hurrying to do something new everyday. Though it's lot less interesting for anyone reading this. Sorry.

Two days ago

Yesterday

Day Eleven

I spent another couple hours working on the still life I started yesterday. It's taking forever! But I'm actually kind of enjoying it.

It's been so long since I did any drawing that I feel like I need to start back at the basics before I move on to more stylistic, "me" things. If that makes any sense at all.

Here's what I did yesterday:

And today's progress:

Day Ten, Some Changes, and a Rant

So... I'm realizing that I may have set a goal that is a little unrealistic. I think I'm going to change my rules a bit so that I'm still being challenged but so this blog doesn't end up being my whole life. So from now on instead of having to complete an entire project every single day, I just want to do a significant amount of work on a project every day. That way I can work on larger projects and not always end up with dinky last minute sharpie things.


I spent a few hours on a drawing, but didn't finish it because I am sloooooooow. I had absolutely no idea what to do today and finally just did a still life - when forced to do them in art classes the suck, but I've always like drawing shoes.

It was nice to just let my brain go numb while shading and listening to podcasts, especially after a crappy day.

EDIT: I had a few people contact me saying that they were disappointed with this change to my rules, claiming that the previous goal of a finished project every single day was "completely attainable" (I don't see them trying it!) and even giving me lists of ideas and links to sites with kiddy craft ideas. This rather provoked me...

I have this to say to anyone who disagrees with my rule change (this is what I told them):

I don't think you understand what I am trying to do here with this blog. I am not trying to make a blog full of ideas for kids craft projects; there are already a ton of those. What I am trying to do is to create a mechanism that forces me to continue being creative and making art. ART. I want to be an artist. Not a crafty mom, not a writer (I got a lot of suggestions that were all writing focused). Art almost always takes a long time to make. If I'm constantly stressing about getting something semi-artistic done by midnight, I'm never going to work on bigger pieces, I will always just make little cutesy things and that is NOT what I am going for here. Yes I will do some crafty stuff too because I love crafts, but I also want to make large paintings and drawings, and maybe sculptures if I get some clay. 
(Reading over this, it occurs to me that this sounds extremely snobbish, but it's not intended to be- I just have different goals, and crafts, though I love them, are not a big part of those goals).

Everything takes me a long time. I worked on that shoe sketch for three hours and wasn't even halfway done. I'M SLOW. I'm a perfectionist. For me to not constantly be disappointed in the things I make (which would end up with me abandoning the blog altogether), I need to have a lot of time to work on them. And with me getting a job soon I won't have all day to work on art projects anymore.

I am working towards my goals more than I ever have. To me it's obvious that this decision is the best one for me. I'm not going to do what other people want me to do just because they think it would be cool. Those are not my goals. I am following my goals, and I am following them even more effectively than I was before, because I changed my rules for the blog.

Day Nine

My sweet friend Juli stole me over to her house today to make some adorable cards with her, which was so fun... I'm so bad at staying connected with people, and it really touches me when others make that effort to reach out to me. I don't realize how alone I am most of the time until after spending time with other human beings!

Anyway, it was just fun to play with paper and buttons and different colors. Hopefully I'll actually use these cards to send to people - another thing I'm bad at is getting thank you cards sent!

Click to see a close up! Is it necessary for me to say that every time? I feel kinda silly, but I worry that someone won't know that you can do that. Oh well. I guess I'll just say it for the pictures that I actually want people to click on to see a close up. Click on my pictures, dagnabbit!

Day Eight

I finally finished the project I started on day four! (I showed you my mess from this project, but it hadn't dried yet so I made a melodramatic drawing instead).

I can never decide if stuff like this can really be called art, or if it's more just crafts... personally I want to call it crafts. On a larger, more sculptural scale I would call it art. This is could turn into a huge debate centered on the definition of the word "art," but for now I'm just going to say that it's a craft but it's still creative, so I will include things like this in my art a day quest.

My other problem with this project is that it's unoriginal - I saw it on pinterest. Really, very few of the artsy things I do are original at this point. I found a video that taught me how to make the plastic fabric stuff, I saw poetry done on book pages on deviantart a long time ago, and I drew a picture straight from a TV show. I don't know, I'm just having real issues coming up with any ideas of my own. I'm hoping that this blog will help me to be more original along the way, and that researcing other artists will help me to see what I like, and turn that into my own style. I'm reading this great book called How to Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon, that gives great advice on finding inspiration and gradually building your voice as an artist. I'll write a blog post about the book one of these days. I really recommend it.

ANYWAY. My lovely, unoriginal craft for today:

These bowls are made from paper mache using both magazine and dictionary pages, one kind on each side of each of the bowls to create contrast. I put plastic wrap inside bowls I already had and used them as molds for the paper mache. The bowls were completely dry today and I just finished them by cleaning them up a little then applying a coat of mod podge to give them shine!

Day Seven

You know how in drawing class at school they teach you to draw people by first making a few lines and circles and then filling in the details of the body around them? I never quite got that. I started drawing before I was taught that, and when I was taught it, I thought it was dumb (and/or more work) so I stuck with my own method. My method was working pretty well for me at the time, so why change? More accurately, I couldn't tell yet how my method was not working for me. My method was to start at one side of the person or object I was drawing, and draw in the outlines (in way too much detail), working my way over to the other side. I almost always ended up having the end lines not quite match up because something got skewed along the way. I'd either have to do a lot of erasing and redrawing, or I'd just fudge it and somehow make them match up, usually ending up with an oddly warped drawing. I'd shade it beautifully and meticulously and that usually hid the error in proportion enough to satisfy me.

All that to say that for my art requirement today, I practiced my gesture drawing, and tried to use those lines and circles. My husband was a dear and let me draw him- lucky devil just had to work on the computer, watch TV, and not move much. I pulled out my 18 x 24 newsprint and a pastel stick and got to work!

My first go was not what I would call successful. The couch is alright, the shirt & pants are pretty good, and I'm quite happy with the hair, but the face and hands... sigh. I really messed up on his facial features and when I went in with white to try to fix it, they just looked weirder. And the hands are kind of disproportional blob things.

My second go was much better! I'm actually really proud of those jeans, and I got his hair spot on. And look at that hand! Such an improvement. His face is still not right, but it's better. I'm quite good at drawing faces in close ups, but tiny features in a bigger drawing like this always mess me up.

I guess I need to keep practicing. If anyone follows this blog at any point, they may be seeing quite a bit of Mitch; he's an easy target for portrait practice.

My Header: Donovan, Rodin, and Scheifele

I feel the need to address my header in order to avoid any possible issues (accusations of plagiarism, etc).

Unfortunately for me, those photos are not of my own art. I wish they were. They are by three artists whom I love and want to be inspired by.

The photo on the left of my header is a detail of a sculpture made out of Styrofoam cups and hot glue by Tara Donovan. This is the full sculpture:  (click on any of these images to make them larger).

Untitled, 2003. Styrofoam cups, hot glue.

She chooses a medium - almost always an everyday object (paper plates, Elmer's glue, toothpicks, etc) - and repeats it over and over again until it forms a huge mass that looks as though it was lifted straight from nature. In fact she's been quoted as saying that in her art she is mimicking nature and the way things grow.
I really like art that repeats a medium over and over, and the time and monotony of creating it really makes me admire the artist. Tara Donovan in particular amazes me in this sense. She has a piece made entirely of scotch tape that looks something like fog rolling close to the ground. The tape touches each other just enough to hold the formation together... I think if I tried to make a piece like this I'd end up screaming in frustration as it stuck to me and everything else and was totally ruined.

Survey, 2005. Pencils.

Transplanted, 2003. Ripped and stacked tar paper.

Many more photos of her work as well as a bio and a couple videos can be found here: Ace Gallery - Tara Donovan. I really encourage anyone who likes these sculptures to check out the site, her other pieces are amazing as well. I just can't post all the photos I want to.


The center photo in my header is a lovely sculpture by Auguste Rodin called The Cathedral. I have always loved hands, with their grace, lines, and quality of being both delicate and powerful. It seems Rodin loved hands as well, as he made several sculptures of isolated hands besides his more famous works. I remember finding a book of Rodin's works on my parent's bookshelves, flipping through it, and catching my breath when I saw this piece. It still awes me with it's beauty whenever I see it.

I want to apologize to the person who's image I used... I just did a google image search and grabbed the one that looked the loveliest. It came from tumblr, but now that I'm trying to credit it I cannot find it anywhere.

Check out more about Rodin and his work here: The Rodin Museum


The image on the right of my header is a piece called Desaturated Fade by Kris Scheifele, who in my book is a genius.
She coats boards with layers and layers of acrylic paint, then peels the paint off, so that it's a thick skin. Then she takes a box cutter and carves chunks out, which makes the layers of color underneath visible; the carving can look like decay, fire damage, or even fireworks! Finally, to display the "contortions" or "fades" as she calls them, she simply nails them to the wall, where the weight of the paint pulling against the nails makes the pieces change and become new.
If you could hear my voice telling you this instead of typing it, I would sound something like an excited little puppy, bouncing around, etc. Or a small child. I guess that's more accurate since I'm not barking.

Anyway, look at her website right now. It's amazing. You can read her full artist statement there too. Kris Scheifele

Here's way too many pictures because I couldn't make up my mind! Again, click to enlarge.
                                                                                                                                                        

Hate Fade

Faded Rainbow Fade

Peripheral Contortion

Firework Fade

7¾" Paint Chips³

Day Six

I can never quite get my posts up by midnight, so it looks like I'm always a day behind. Unfortunately, I predict this trend will continue throughout the majority of the year...

Anyway. I just have a sketch today- I was watching the first episode of the third season of Downton Abbey, which aired today! There was this completely beautiful shot that I tried sketching, but of course I didn't do it justice at all. There should be a line of four or five servants standing waiting with the face of the abbey behind them just where my paper ends. And I should have gone crazy with a smudge stick/blendy thing to make my shading smooth, but obviously I didn't and I probably won't- unless it ends up driving me crazy and distracting me from anything else. Which is likely.

I just googled "drawing smudge stick" to make sure it was the right term, and it turns out they're also called torchons or tortillons! Who knew? I think I like the technical term "blendy things" better though.

Day Five

Today (since it's after midnight, technically yesterday) I finished my sister's belated Christmas present... I know. I'm terrible. I definitely bit off more than I could chew this year. It probably wasn't very smart of me to decide to sew seven full sized bags and three small bags as gifts a week before Christmas, and then set about learning how to use a sewing machine in order to do so. And I couldn't just go out and buy fabric, I had to use a material that I pretty much have to make myself. That's how I roll- making everything as hard as possible, and with as little time to do it as possible. I really am stunned by my own intelligence sometimes.

Rather than using plastic grocery bags as I did with the bag for my mom (day two), this time I just used plain trash bags: black bags for the strap and the black panels, and white bags that I designed with Sharpies before ironing to fuse the layers of plastic together (if you try this, make sure to turn the bag inside out if there is any ink, or it will be ruined).  This bag goes over the shoulder and has a cute little flap. I half used a free pattern I found online and half winged it, and I think it turned out quite satisfactory! Probably the most time consuming part of the whole thing was drawing/coloring in (inking? saying "coloring in" feels so... elementary school) the different designs, which I did before Christmas, I just needed to sew everything together.

If anyone wants to try my method for making trash bag fabric, I can post a more detailed step-by-step process with photos. On day two I posted the link to the video I learned this from, but after lots of trial and error I've figured out a few tricks they don't mention that help it go more smoothly. I can also post a link to the pattern I based this bag on (which came from a site with a huge list of links to free purse patterns).

And again, this was a gift so I can't sell it, but I could do a commission. If someone commissioned me to make a bag for them out of this material, I could do the designs in a color scheme of their choice! It's rather time consuming though, so it would be a bit pricey.

Day Four

 Sigh. Another last minute day. The sad part is that I started something I was excited about, but by 11:30 pm I knew it was NOT going to get finished. Great.

Edit: I just remembered that I also started a different project this morning but left it to go out and ended up being gone all day. Point is, today has been a day of double disappointment, art-wise.  Non-art-wise, it was rather a good day! (Yes, I did just use the dreaded -wise. Twice! Take that, sophomore English class! Take that, The Lively Art of Writing! You know, that book has haunted me? But only the -wise. I only ever remember the -wise bit of that book. So weird. Alright, end of tangent).

Since I had my dictionary out already, I just pulled out my trusty black Sharpie and got to work on something before the day was over (ok so I still technically finished this after midnight, but I'm counting it).

I happened to already be on the page that said "introverted" on it, and for me that word recalls my somewhat pathetic, awkward, and lonely years between, maybe... fourth grade and tenth grade (after that I was still pretty awkward and a bit lonely, but not quite so pathetic. Oddly, I think I've regressed and I'm back to all three), so I began drawing a depressed looking silhouette. I then realized that for a lot of people, introversion is not depressing, but perfectly fine and even something to be proud of, so I decided to flip to the "depression" page and up the melodrama. Aaaw yeah. (Click on the photo for an enlarged image where you can read the words).
Actually, looking at this now, I think it would be better if I black out the entire opposite page as well, so the darkness seems even more enveloping. Meh, too lazy. It's late and I'm off to bed.

Post Script: I would like to add this for any of those who are tempted to lecture me: yes I do occasionally destroy books in the name of art. Only one of them has been a book I actually took off a shelf, decided it would never again be read, and designated as an art book. All others have been bought at thrift stores with the express intent of using them for art, and they were sad, lonely, introverted books like dictionaries or medical tomes that likely would have languished there for ages before making their way to a dumpster, etc. So in effect, I am saving books when I turn them into art!
Trust me, I have thought about this decision. I dearly love books; they were my closest friends throughout those years I mentioned earlier. And I mean, books make gorgeous art! Sometime I'll do a post about book artists that are amazing. I find that seeing books as art just increases my awe towards them.

Hooray books!

Day Three

I'd had a bigger project planned for today, but I ended up not having time, so I made a small painting instead.

It started out as frustration - haphazardly smearing white and black acrylic paint around - then I added some color (hooray for finger painting!) and ended up with something I rather like. I painted it horizontally but I also think it might look nice vertically, I can't decide. Once I get my new etsy shop set up, I'll put it up.

It's been a long time coming for me to admit that I may actually prefer abstract art to more realistic art. At first all I wanted to do was perfect my people drawing and sculpting skills, but eventually I realized that I am such a perfectionist that drawing people stresses me out rather than being calming, not to mention taking hours and hours. More abstract painting, focusing on color or value or texture instead of trying to accurately represent a subject, is actually very therapeutic.

Day Two

Today's piece is one that I've worked on in bursts over the last week, and it's a belated Christmas gift for my mother (I made these things for my family and couldn't get them all done in time). Since this is a gift I obviously will not put it on etsy, but I can do commissions. I've made one using mostly Target bags that was very cool, and one with brown plastic bags that was a different look.

It is a reusable grocery bag. Glamorous I know!
The cool part is that it's made from used plastic grocery bags, melted together into thicker pieces and sewn together. To add some color and interest I scribbled some Sharpie on there before ironing them- my mom likes blue best.

I learned how to do this from this great video.
I can answer any specific questions in the comments!

Day One

Though I'm starting this blog on the 2nd, I did make a small piece of "art" on the 1st. It was very last minute because my husband and I came up with the idea to do this as we were getting ready for bed last night around 11 pm. I really wanted to start on January 1st (mostly because it sounds cooler) so I ran to create something semi-artistic before it became January 2nd! 

I like this idea of creating poetry by subtracting words rather than adding them, but I know if I had more time I could have done something I was more pleased with. I don't particularly like the vaguely bat-like blob I drew around the words I picked out. Not to mention that I'm hardly a poet...

Ugh, and the photo is terrible. Saving up for a real camera is another goal of mine (right now all we have to take pictures with is an iPhone). 

Oh well. At least I know there's nowhere to go but up, right?