Biting off more than I can chew? (100 Days of Collage)

For those of you who are addicted to Instagram like I am, you are all probably aware of the #the100daysproject. For everyone else, it is a sort of challenge to creative people to do what they do for 100 days in a row. I found out about it's launch date just before it happened and made an impulse decision to join in by focusing on #100daysofcollage. At first I used papers from my collection of magazines, but then switched over to my hand-printed ones on day three. 

Old palette paper + drawn tissue paper.

Monoprint + layers of drawn tissue paper + acrylic paint

My stash of monoprints was starting to get low so I started cranking them out!

But then making them started to feel more stressful, and I was becoming more fixated on the end goal instead of enjoying the process of making them. I mean, this should be fun, right?

So now I am taking my time making these prints and giving myself permission to take a day off if need be. 

I still plan on completing 100 collages, but I'm ok if it takes more than 100 days. Emily Jeffords talks about sustainable creativity on her blog and started the #doitfortheprocess hashtag on Instagram and those concepts are really resonating with me. 

Are any of you participating in the #the100daysproject? 

To see my work, follow me on Instagram or purchase prints here! 

In my studio: ten minutes at a time

As a wife and momma, I sometimes long for extended times to spend working in my studio. As Herman Melville wrote in a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, " I am so pulled hither and thither by circumstances. The calm, the coolness, the silent grass-growing mood in which a man ought always compose, --that, I fear, can seldom be mine."

This notion that I had to have at least three hours to work if I was going really make art was all fine and dandy when I was young and had fewer responsibilities. Now, that just isn't going to cut it. I would never make anything if that was still a requirement for art making.

Ten to twenty minute spurts are how I seem to best operate now. Washing machine cycle is almost over... Run!! I can glue down those collage pieces before it is finished! 

The kids are about to wake from their naps. Can I get those canvases primed in time? Yes!

Sketching while simmering soup for dinner? Of course!!

The couple of pieces I am currently working on have been made in short increments of time. 

(Still in the beginning phase)

Here's to making it work while still getting on with life's work!!

Weekly update

 I would love to post some sort of "in my studio" weekly update, but this has been one of those weeks where I'm not sure if I really have much to post. My 11m son decided that his afternoon nap should be optional for a few days so that meant no painting for Mama!

Today he figured that a nap was a good idea so I was able to catch up on laundry and write this post.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram would have seen this post. I drew some flowers with Tulip paint on a transparency sheet with the hopes of making an acrylic skin by covering it with gel medium and then peeling it off. 

Unfortunately, I used the matte medium instead of the gloss so it was a little more opaque than I would have preferred. I've made some more with gloss, and they look much better. Hope to finish this piece up sometime this week and get back to my other starts. 

Sunday was nice because I was able to churn out this sketch while all three of my kiddos enjoyed their post-church naps (Sunday school wipes out my very social yet introverted children.).

And once they woke up, we all headed to a local single track park for little picnic.

We found this nice little spot to enjoy our PB & J's and carrots before the mosquitos started to drive us crazy. The little ones enjoyed saying, "hi" to all the cyclists that passed us by (none of whom probably every saw people picnicking there). :-)

In my studio: getting unstuck

It has been a long time since I've been able to paint on a regular basis. Last week the withdrawal symptoms I felt from going off my arthritis medicine finally stopped so I have been able to find a little time each day to get out my paints and brushes and have at it!

But something odd kept happening. I would be going along just all fine and dandy and then get stuck. This is nothing new for me, in fact, this is something that plagues most artists. The odd part was that I couldn't get "un-stuck", I couldn't move forward no matter how long I looked at a piece.

Then last night, I took my latest pieces outside to work on. Since my lap was my work surface, I brought along my little collection of pens, markers and pencils that I've been using for the last year or so in my sketchbook (you can see those pieces on Instagram). 

All of a sudden, I was no longer stuck! Once I had that white gel pen in my hand my brain immediately told me what to do next. There was just something about having those familiar tools at hand that moved me past my artists block!

These pieces still have a ways to go before they are finished, but I hope to have prints available soon!

What I'm Painting: beginnings and middles

I'm in the middle of several pieces right now and thought I would share them with you!

We will call this one slightly past middle...

middle-ish...

almost to the middle...

and just begun (threw down leftover paint from previous one)!

Think I need to come up with some better terminology to explain how far along I am in a piece. :-)

What I'm Making: the latest collage

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Painting: more brayer fun

Here's some more mark making I did with a brayer.

What I'm Painting

Having fun with my new paints!

#taxrefundshoppingtrip

(prints available here)