Less of a ramble this week and more of a 'Behind the Scenes' kinda video for you this friday. It's the video I mentioned in my vlog last week, regarding how I create 'big' projects as I'm being asked more and more for help by artists with dreams of creating a project that they are feeling overwhelmed by.
What I share here is not the right or only way to go about creating big projects, but these 3 techniques combined together
help me deal with all points of bringing a project to life. The best I advice I can give regarding this is to
create the right structures for yourself to help you stay on track when all the
twists and turns show up (and they will).
Birthing a big project isn’t always easy
so if you are busy creating something big, beautiful and scary I wish you luck
in finding your own way to make the journey understandable, easier and fun too. Here's the video:
Fantastic inspiration of an artist interview here today,
Happy TAT read =)
Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are. I have been drawing and painting since I could hold a crayon in my hand. I would spend hours as a child creating cards and pictures for every family member for every holiday or just any occasion I deemed necessary. I remember getting art supplies for my 10th birthday and being so excited for all the things I knew I could create. I took art classes over and over as electives in high school and by my senior year my instructor let me skip all the mundane assignments and let me spend the year completing really good finished pieces. I carried this mentality with me through college courses, turning every assignment into a finished painting. I was a psych major taking art as electives to fill unit requirements. Every instructor begged me to switch majors but at the time art degrees with career potential were all heading towards graphic design which was not my interest at all. I went from college straight into the work world and found little to no time to paint and only painted a handful of things over the next 8 years. When I stepped out of the work world in 2013 to raise my two children, I immediately started getting commission after commission. It was perfect timing. I was at home with two babies and could paint during naptimes. I spent the last two years getting established online while I continued to create. I am now accepting more commissions than ever before and am getting my art out into the world. I am finally doing what I love.
What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? I have for years taken on the challenge of photo realism in my art. I think it is hardest to paint something as it appears in real life. The greatest compliment is when someone thinks my art is a photograph. The shock on their face when they learn it's a painting makes me smile every time. The drawback in that is that I don't feel I am balanced as an artist in more organic natural design. Sure I can turn out any style of art, but at times I don't feel original. I don't let it discourage me from creating what I want to create. There will always be a critic and the worst one is yourself.
What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist? I want to get more of my art out into the world. I want to do what I love to do and if it can bring me some income that would be fantastic. If I could make a living off of it that would be phenomenal. I absolutely love doing commissioned pieces and turning someone's vision into reality. I have had clients ask me how I was able to get in their head and see what they needed me to create for them. I want to evoke emotions in people that only a painting can, whether it's painting a favorite place of theirs or painting an image they have had in their minds but can't put it on paper themselves. In the meantime, I will keep painting what I love and want hanging in my home and if that can turn into print sales that is awesome! Someday I would love to see my work printed on cards, magnets, mugs, t shirts, you name it, I want my work in gift shops. I have several paintings I want to create this year working towards that goal.
What advice would you offer to any perspective new artist? The greatest advice I can give is, don't be afraid of color and don't be afraid to mess up. I credit two instructors in my school years with that. One made me see that you should never be afraid of color. She taught me how to look at the world in color. The grass isn't always green, sometimes it's purple, sometimes it's red. You have to dissect the image into shapes and colors and don't be afraid to paint that way. Another instructor taught me the importance of "happy accidents." Those moments when your work takes a turn and you think you have "messed up" when indeed you have created a happy accident by changing your perspective. Art is in the eye of the beholder. You will come upon many critics in your life that will slam you and try to bring you down. You have to persevere and do what makes you happy as an artist. I don't ever want to look back and wish I had painted something I didn't because someone told me I wasn't original. Your hands are creating it, so therefore it is original, whether you are imitating another artist or doing your own thing. Go, live, create, inspire!
Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art? I have utilized social media to promote my work over the last couple of years. I am on Instagram @morganbryndesigns and I post everything I am working on in any creative aspect. I also have a Facebook dedicated to all my paintings and crafts you can find by searching "Morgan Bryn Designs" on Facebook and one that is solely dedicated to my crochet work by searching "Morgan Bryn Crochet Creations." I have an Etsy shop where I sell a lot of crochet work and prints of my paintings. I am always accepting commissions and when you look at my Instagram you can see that I dabble in a little bit of everything. I am happiest when I am creating. I cannot sit idle. If every chore is done and it's time to rest, I cannot just rest, I have to keep my hands busy creating something
Thanks so much for being a TAT interviewee Morgan. I have been feeling really lethargic this week and just not wanting to do any art or anything arty (in truth including TAT, as I've felt so uninterested in anything remotely related to art everything, even those things I really love, has been included in that) but your interview has really brightened me up and shifted that energy. Your story relating to building your painting time back up and creating a business out of it during naptime I find very inspiring, as I'm sure many others will too. Thanks for sharing, I'm enchanted especially by the first painting you shared.
Want to join in as a TATer??
Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)
Eeek so far into March already, anyone else feel like they can't get a grip on this year whizzing by that it's getting scary now?
We had a solar eclipse today, here's the view we had of it:
...I've decided this is the only picture I'm sharing today, usually my Weekly Rambles are filled with a few pictures of projects but I'm having difficulty with that today, so I did a vlog instead (& explain why in there).
Warning: this lives up to both terms of 'vlog' and 'ramble',
(at least get a cuppa if you do watch it so I don't feel so bad...but once again this in-the-middle-while-still-figuring-stuff-out is what the Weekly Ramble here is all about, you have been warned)
Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are. Hi, I’m Petra and I’m 47 years. I live in the Netherlands and I’m married for almost 28 years now. I have 3 children, 27, 24 and 23 years old. I've painted for about 7 years now but the last 2,5 years it became serious. The first 5 years I painted abstract, once a week just for fun. But then I got sick, COPD ( lung disease ) and I could not work anymore. As I had worked from the age of 16 I had a really difficult time with the not working part in my life. I felt really lost and didn’t know what to do with my time. Then the magic came into my life, I was surfing the internet/YouTube and I found the very first Art video, Mixed Media Art and it was from you Jenny… I immediately was so inspired by what I saw. From that day on I was totally obsessed ;-) . It really helped me psychologically to overcome the depressed feelings I had over the not be able to work in my life. It brought me a lot of beautiful artsy friends online.. and I love it. I did a couple Art courses and I painted every day. I learned a lot! I still don’t know exactly what kind of artist I am. I love to work with different supplies, paper etc. I most certainly are a Mixed Media artist. My biggest passion Is to paint faces, I really love to do the girls! I guess I’m still not sure what kind of artist I am ;-)
What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? The biggest challenge I face is without a doubt my perfectionism. When I do faces I really are a perfectionist… How do I overcome it: I do 2 different kind of faces, 1, the really beautiful ones, the ones that I work on for hours and hours. For those faces I did not find a way yet to overcome my perfectionism. I really love this Asian girl above ( I did make her during a course I did with Christy Sobolewski, painted faces 2. She is one of my favorite teachers) The second type of faces I do are Whimsy faces. I really like to do the Whimsy girls because everything is allowed.. nothing can go wrong! This kind of faces I learned by following a course was the Whimsy girl face from Tamara Laporte and I love it! What really helps is that I do Life Book this year and I really learned a lot especially to loose up! I still need to learn a lot to overcome my perfectionism but that’s OK. Another challenge for me is to find my own style, what do I like, What is it that gives me a great feeling… I’m truly having a difficult time finding my own style. I love to do so many styles, so many MM things and I find so many thing very great to do. What I do know is that painting faces is the thing that I really like, I really like the Mixed Media style, to be able to work with lots of different stuff and colors. But I don’t know MY style yet. I just keep on painting and I trust that my style will come my way.
What advice would you offer to any perspective new artist? As I’m myself are a reasonably new artist, I really overcome a lot of fear of not being good enough. I’m a perfectionist so I do know how difficult it is to not tell yourself that you are not good enough.. but please, lovely artist, you are good enough, all the great artist where ones beginners! Just keep on practice and share your work in really great and supporting groups on Facebook or any other Social Media. Try to have fun in what you do, don’t stress about it. Just keep on playing and the more you practice and share the more you overcome fears. Here’s one of my very first faces ( 2.5 years ago ). I’m so glad that I didn’t throw these away
This is one of the girls I
painted recent :
What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist? My hearts greatest desire for my life as a artist is that I find my own style.. I really want that. I hope that I can paint faces and Mixed Media Art for the rest of my life. I hope that it will gives me always the relaxed feeling that it gives me today.I hope that I can inspire people with my art. I hope that one day I can create a course to help “ Newbie Artist “ . I hope that Art always makes me happy. I’m really proud of what I have achieve the last 2 years. I hope to develop and grow as an artist the next years. I can’t imagine a life without Art any more!
Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art? Let’s be Friends. Here's my Facebook, International Facebook group for Artsy friends around the world: My good Art friend Juna Biagioni started this group and I’m one of the administrators of this wonderful supporting international group. Love to see you there. I also have a new Youtube channel. I just published my first 2 videos about how I shade my Whimsy girls & finally my Blog (still working on it.. but i love to you there)
Hi Petra, thank you for sharing your journey and your art. I like the fact that you are proud of what you have achieved in two years. Rather than always being focused on where we are going, I think we all need a dose in remembering (and precisely for the purpose of reveling in...) how far we have come. For myself I just a shot of this and created a new video (I'll insert it below) for Journal Workshops as that has come SO far in only year I felt I needed to update the welcome message to reflect where we are now; that feeling of change and growth is just *pure awesome*, and should be reveled in.
It's always the journeys that are the cool part, never the destination.
I've not posted much here over the past couple of weeks due to life shizzle getting in the way, yawn! But Friday is my weekly ramble day so I’m eager to get back to it, as this week my creating has come back in spades too (not that I believe it ever goes away of course)
My 'Weekly Ramble's if you’re new here are for me to share whatever is happening in my art world right now, regardless of what I'm currently tinkering around with or where I am with it. These posts are more about capturing a glimpse of the middle process part than they are about showing the shiny finished product. This week has all been about getting a solid creative flow going again and opening my outdoor studio after it’s sleepy time over the winter.
I’ve missed being out here so me regaining my creative flow, and it waking up, collided and means most creativity has happened out here. I spring cleaned and got it all fresh and lovely again, then I played around with my supplies and got it feeling really fluid and functional for me.
As I was rearranging, a shelf of my armoire opened up and felt really bare. Then I remembered these three tins I brought from the poundshop (dollarstore equivalent) that have been sitting in my indoor studio all lonely without a purpose.
I had no idea why I wanted these so badly when I was in the shop, but I have learned when I get an impulse as strong as that to buy something, even when I have no need for them (and I don’t just mean the ‘they’re pretty, I want them’ feeling, I mean a REALLY strong desire to have them that’s undeniable) I just get them. The reason always becomes understood soon after buying, and needs or wants I never knew I had get met instantly by an odd, seemingly impulse, purchase. This has happened so often now that by the time I saw these I have given over the ‘it’s irresponsible to buy something when there’s no need’ inner critic voice…plus they were only £1 so what the hey, tins are always useful right?! and then voila…I suddenly needed something extremely thin to fill this awkward space. They also solved a problem of paper pieces that are now too fat to remain in my armoire paper slots, so the tins now neatly contain post-it notes, ephemera and journal spots. Look at that, an empty space that needed to be prettified and a storage problem solved by an impulse purchase….hmm just like magic!
Anyway enough of my law of attraction type thoughts about shopping haha here’s an iphone update vlog of me creating in the outdoor studio:
Spraying the watersoluable crayons with varnish to seal them.
Also if you haven’t seen this week a conversation was aired that revealed my journey as an artist for the 21 Secrets Series. If you want to join us in class there’s still time to jump in, click here for the details: 21 Secrets Spring 2015
or click the image below for the details to joining us in class this April
I hope you've had a great week in your creative flow Much love
Yolo Rolo! (...I dunno, just started saying that recently!)
I'm here!!!
It's Tuesday and I'm here woohoo!
That means it's Tell All Tuesday Artist Interview time!! YAY!
I've not been online much the past couple of weeks but I'm back now, and so I've got an awesome artist to introduce you to, in her words a lovely 'late bloomer', enjoy =)
Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art? Hello…my name is Teresa Cash. I am a self-taught mixed media artist. I will readily admit that I am a creative Late Bloomer. I was 58 yrs. old when I finally let my creative spirit out. I did not know that I could draw or paint until that warm August day in 2011. I had no idea which direction to go but I was committed to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving. Knowing that eventually I would find my way. There has always been a small voice within my soul urging me to move out of my comfort zones and face my fears to realize my true creative potential yet for one reason or another I ignored the urgings. I was convinced there were logical reasons for me to stay in my nice little world. Yet I knew deep in my soul I yearned for more. I just hadn't realized how strong my desire was until I took that first step. Most of my art is thought provoking or delivers an inspirational message all of which comes from my heart to you.
What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? I believe my biggest challenge I face as an artist is overcoming the fear of being judged. It disguises itself in many forms so it often goes undetected. The more I stay focused on my reason for creating art, which is to inspire others, the less I care about being judged. When I know that I am doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing, fear has no place to reside.
What is your greatest personal achievement either in your art, or because of it? My greatest personal achievement in my art happened recently. (the detailed story can be read on my blog) I was working on a piece that I was extremely excited about. I felt it was going to be my signature piece-the one that would identify me as an artist. On the 3rd day was my final step, to glue the pieces onto a canvas. I did that and left it out to dry over night. The next morning I enthusiastically went to get the piece. I was utterly surprised to see the entire piece was ruined. It had bubbled all over it. I was really bummed out! Fast forward several days – there was a series of events that occurred to transform what was a negative into a positive. That piece is so personal to me and it carries a message that speaks to the very depth of who I am. As it sits on my inspiration shelf, nestled onto a small easel, it will serve as an ever present reminder to be brave.
Do you think you have achieved a uniquely recognisable style as an artist, or do you find it a struggle to find your own style? Right now one of my biggest quest is to establish my style as an artist so that my work is recognizable. I am confident it will happen as long as I keep searching. I enjoy working with joint compound. There is so much you can do with it. And the texture is awesome. My second favorite medium to use is hot glue. This one I have been using for awhile but it still throws me a curve ball from time to time. Then there are those pieces that rock. I LOVE these flowers. There is so much depth to them. I am discovering that one of my strengths is drawing, particularly females. As with life – being an artist is a work in progress and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
Follow my creative path on my blog. You can purchase my art on my website. Come LIKE my FaceBook page. I host a blog site where I share other stories about creative Late Bloomers. I’d love to share your story.
Thanks so much for sharing Teresa, I loved your stories and especially your line 'when I know that I am doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing, fear has no place to reside' it reminded me of a quote I think you'd like if you haven't come across it already 'When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid' Audre Lorde. I've heard of many versions of this, from many different voices and I think they are all so right, when you focus on what your are doing, then you and your feelings are longer important in sight of what you are creating. I would also recommend anyone to check our your Late Bloomers blog as it is filled with some truly awesome work and stories shared from other creative Late Bloomers (plus'Give me a slow beginner and I'll show you a winner' is the tag/under-title line which I LOVE, that's reason alone surely?!)
Do you want to see your work here?
To be featured email me or find all the details here =)
