so lately I have been SO inspired to just seriously create.. FOR ME. Most of what I do is creating for workshops, and online tutorials.. (which by the way the Pumpkins & Cider Workshop started today and people are already posting their amazing work in the facebook group page and HOLY COW!!! totally inspired by them!!! wahoo!!
I have taken a couple of online workshops (and am currently taking some.. lol.. meaning I have paid for them and need to watch them!! DANG!!)
but watching other wonderful artist seriously inspire me to expand my own creativity. I totally value their perspective and how the approach a canvas or sketchbook.. I think it's always important to learn from others too when trying to figure out your 'OWN creativity" I haven't ever taken a lot of online classes.. this year was pretty much my first and at the start of the year I had big plans do and I kinda failed at them all. WELL FINALLY this summer I said.. ENOUGH! I AM GOING TO TAKE TIME FOR ME!!! lol
I had so many artist I was just dying to learn from.. and So I signed up. I had been signed up for a while for Mindy Lacefields workshop, Paint your Story..
(image is copyright of Mindy Lacefield )
but hadn't done anything with it. Hadn't watched the videos or logged in.. so I took the opportunity to do that as well. I Sat down and just watched her and was in AWE of what she created!
I also signed up for how to create an owl, by Juliette Crane.
(images taken from Juliette's blog and all credit given to her)
. oh wait I think I first took her how to create a GIRL.. and then fell SO HARD in love with the freaking girl.. I immediately signed up for how to create an owl..
and her latest workshop.. how to create whimsical animals.
Which just started sunday!! Boy the girl is amazing. ANother amazing artist I just recently signed up for Flora Bowley's online Class.." Bloom True" , because when I was at Donna Downey's inspired event.. she couldn't say enough awesome things about her! and while we are only into week 2 of this class and are only currently working on backgrounds (did one layer last week and a second layer this week).. I can already tell I AM GOING TO LOVE what I LEARN!! I just want all six weeks at once! lol (i am so impatient.. now I know how you guys feel when you take a new workshop from me! lol)
(Image taken from Flora's blog and credit given to her for this picture)
the one thing I found in common with all three of these women.. is that they pretty much only use paint or oil pastels on their canvas. They paint alot with their hands(which of course you guys know I already do lol) but most of the "texture and design they get in their backgrounds come from their own hands making marks. They also use found objects a lot too (like you've seem me do before.. like paper towel rolls, etc) to make design, but they don't use things like sprays, or stencils, or stamps or rubons.. things like that to get texture in on their canvases. So when I first set out to create a canvas from Mindy's class.. I thought to myself.. HOW THE HECK am I going to create without all those things! lol.. that is what I Use! what I LOVE.. but I really wanted to try it anyway
If you remember right.. I ended up with THIS girl.
All done with only paint. nothing else. and I LOVED it. It forced me to use my skills and also my creative brain to create and find texture within the painting. which i loved. I admit mine doesn't look a whole lot like Mindy's beautiful work lol.. because of course I couldn't help but make her more of a "she girl" and add doodling and what not to create mine.. but I still like her.
Next was Juliette's class.. which I still haven't attempted to try an owl OR a girl OR a animal.. lol.. but I WILL! I promise! I just am waiting to kinda find my own style from what i am learning from her. She just amazes me. again.. using mostly only paint. (however she doesn't use plastic doilies and patterned paper sometimes.. a girl after my own heart! )
Now with flora.. hers is also a BIG step for me because it's a huge canvas.. and you have to fill the space and make it balanced and comfortable to look at. You have to think LARGER scale.. Her class started, like I said.. a couple of weeks ago, so we haven't really gotten into any type of design.. just putting on randomly.. but it helped think to myself that maybe I should revisit the canvas I did earlier this summer.. THIS one here.. and maybe add do it.. add designs into it somewhere.
ALSO it has inspired me to finish THIS canvas.. which I started in May! lol and still looks the same.. :( poor canvas.So I am going to FINISH IT!! it's almost there.. just think I need to define some of the shapes I have created..
and THIS One.. which isn't even halfway there.. (Hello!! I started this one is freaking may!!! LOL).. get it done girl!
Well last week I just couldn't stand it anymore and I wanted to just attempt my very first LARGE finished canvas.. just using paint only.. I even DOODLED and drew with my paintbrush and fingers.. NO pens or markers! Yes I was nervous lol. I started by creating just a background.. on both pieces, and then I just started doodling flowers and other shapes onto the canvas. Also writing words and such in places. I went back in some of my old art journals and took inspiration from some of those for shapes and doodled flowers.. as I tend to only do those in my art journals for some reason. I also have a doodle journal I keep with all kinds of fun abstract flowers and leaves and shapes that I refereed to before i started. BUT then I quickly found.. that using it was only hindering me.. so I just let go and just started doodling what was in my heart and what I saw on the page. Ended up with some fun shapes that actually made no sense at all! lol
So the final ended up looking like this..
This is a LARGE 4'x6' canvas.. it's HUGE lol.. (can you see the bottle of paint down by the bottom? )
its very subtle in the background, as I was a bit timid at first to add more.. because I really wanted my doodling to take precedent.. but I am so happy with how it turned out. and actually in awe that I created something so meaningful to me without any stamps, stencils, rubons, paper or sprays! or even modeling paste for texture! It was just all simple paints and the stroke of my fingers and a fine tip paint brush.
The next one I created later in the week.. was with my mom.. she came into town and I surprised her by spending the day with her painting, outside on easels under the big trees at my new/old house. wow we had so much fun. I put on some inspiring music (my favorite low key CD from my baby brother VJ.. Just Around the Bend" LOVE his cd! you can purchase it in our store!! , i took my shoes off and we just went town. This was my mom's FIRST time ever painting!! Here is what she created!
So proud of her..
for this painting, I wanted to really be ME and go with bold bright colors, like I do when I do my other work.. just full of texture and dimensions because of the paint contrasts.. and wow. it ended up SUPER bright! lol I seriously tried numerous times to calm it down.. but yea.. it seriously didn't work. It still is bright as can be. But I stayed true to me and kept with my doodles flowers and scalloped edges and stuff. Here is what I came up with
This canvas was about 24"x36" , Deep edge. again.. just doodled and kept doodling and pretty much just added scallops to every shape I doodled lol.. um you know me and doodles.. what was it they said to me on TLC craft wars? " you don't have to doodle on EVERYTHING" .. um I say YES!!! Lol
and more scallops.. lol
I really had a blast doing both.
AND NOW i feel inspired to finish both of my larger pieces I started earlier this year.. by just honestly adding some of my doodles to them. the color block one I still think I will keep VERY simple.. but THIS one..
I think I can add maybe a few poppies or something just to give the eye a place to rest.
I wish I had more time, I am really fascinated right now with these large more abstract prints.. but in between workshops, getting my studio ready and blogging, etc.. I can't justify just taking a day off to paint everyday lol.
(oh but how fun it would be! ) Both of those large canvases only took me about 3 hours to do.. so If I had an entire day! OH HOW FUN IT WOULD BE!!
Since I created those canvases, and shared them with my friends via text.. some of them sent me to some other VERY Talented designers that I was just seriously IN AWE of and now.. can't wait to take classes from them! One of them, Jesse Reno (I found him last week in a book at Barnes and Noble)..
(this image was taken from Jesso Renos' blog HERE.. he freaking ROCKS!!)
I have actually booked to take a class from him in person.. just today! AND BEN my husband is going to take it with me!!.
AND next year I am going to Nuture your creative seed with my friend Chrissy, (Um who I forgot to mention ALSO inspires me!! Look at HER freaking amazing work!!)
and taking classes in person from both my dear friend Jeanne Oliver
(Image was taken from Jeanne's blog.. )
WAHOO! There is one more I REALLY REALLY want to take.. okay two.. I always SO inspired by my friend Alisa Burke.. and all she is and does and creates. I have taken an class from her ONCE in person.. but we ended up talking almost the entire time .. just me and her.. about life and such) that I didn't really make anything! LOl.. so now I want to go to her new studio and just spend time with her learning from her and creating with her. I CAN NOT WAIT for that.
AND then I just heard about another retreat in June of next year.. called Artology.. and Juliette Crane, Mindy Lacefield and Danielle Daniel are teaching at!! ( I just found Danielle Danielle works this past week and was like HOLY FReAKING COW!! THIS GIRL ROCKS!!!!!!!) so now I am pumped and saving my allowances and birthday money to go to these retreats!
So.. that is my post for today..
oh i have to share one last thing.. a couple of weeks ago, Allie and I were trying to think of something fun we could do for a girls night out (on a school night) and we talked about just going to Barnes and Noble and hanging out.. but i had just got an email in my inbox for a new class from the very talented Melody Ross. It was all about her funky flower canvases she does and other things. Brave Girl Art School .. anyhow.. we watched the first weeks' video.. and then headed to bed. The next day my son, Noah, my 7 year old came into my office and said "mom.. you know those videos you were watching last night.. can I watch those too? and can I make one of those too?" I was like.. you mean the FLOWER videos? the video with the flowers in the vase? and he said "yep.. can I?"
I said.. okay.. sure.. maybe sometime in the next week when I have time to sit and help you.. well the entire week went by and Saturday came and he said "mom remember how you said we were going to do it this week?" and I was like.. YES lol.. okay.. let's get the stuff out.
So I got out some simple things for him to use.. paint, papers, decopauge of course, a glue gun and some fun embellishments like buttons, brads, etc.
So I started to just cut out of the petals for him.. for the flowers.. and he got MAD at me!! lo.. He said.. "mom! i am doing this.. .. I know how I watched the video" I was like.. okay!! Lol.. chill boy. So I let him finish and glue them onto the canvas. Then he painted around each of the flowers.. and while it looked pretty sloppy.. I just kept thinking.. it's okay.. hes' 7. Well THEN he wanted to do the glue gun technique where you create shapes with hot glue.. and in this case use it for texture.. so I started using it and going around the petals and again he stopped me and was like "mom.. um can I do that" finally I decided I just needed to back off and let him do his thing. I wanted it to be "perfect' and he just wanted to do it. He had the Ipad next to him watching Melody as he went.. so I finally left him to his own creation and watched the BSU football game instead. lol
Well I came back about half hour later and I was AMAZED at what he done!!!! he had used the glue gun to create all sorts of texture all over the page! He even tried to use it for scallops (like I put on my canvases).. but with glue. AND he had gone in and painted all the glue as well.. all different colors. again.. it looked kinda sloppy but STILL HOLY COW! for a 7 year old! Melody is an amazing teacher!! At this point I could tell he was frustrated it just didn't have the texture he wanted, so I helped him (and HE LET ME lol) show him how to add texture with some micro beads I had (I filled in the petals with mod podge and let him dump it in. And then also inside one of the flower he wanted to put bottoms down everywhere but was having a hard time getting the concept of not letting the glue get dry before you put the buttons on. so I hot glued and he buttoned as I went.
THEN he went back to painting.. and when I came back.. AGAIN.. amazed!! the only thing it was really missing was the glazing process melody's does on her painting, to give them an antique affect. I really wanted to try it to see how it would change the look of his canvas, since it was pretty darn bright AND messy.. wondered if some of the glaze would help hide some of the messy painting.. and so I asked him if I could help him glaze it.. so we did.
AND let me tell you.. I am in awe of how it turned out.. here is what he created..
can you beleive it??
Serisouly... now noah is love with Melody Ross and can't wait to watch more of her videos! lol
anyhow.. it just goes to show you that EVERYONE can be inspired by someone else.. everyone can find their own unique style from learning from other people.. it's about taking what you feel and getting it down. I also learned that sometimes just using simple paints and your hands.. can provide all the texture and details you need!! don't get me wrong.. um I probably will never stop using my stamps, stencils, sprays or rubons! Lol infact my next one.. I am going to start to incoporate some! for sure!!
So i guess what I am saying is go be inspired! I am now inspired by those taking my workshops and sharing their work on flickr and our facebook group pages.. always inspired.. that is how I found Junelle.. SO inspired by her work in a class she was taking from me.
So find something that inspires you and then learn to make it your own and not be afraid to share it either!
Happy Tuesday!
