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Monday, June 28, 2010

Finding Balance

I can't believe how fast the weeks are going by. There are so many things I am trying to get caught up on and it seems like I'm just treading water here. It's very frustrating to realize that I haven't made as much progress in any of the areas I had hoped to and yet another week has passed! :(

I made this top piece as a sort of digital journal page. I was looking through my sketch book and came upon a series of fast little sketches that I did a while back. These were whimsical little drawings that I then transferred onto loose canvas. I am planning on painting these individual canvas pieces and doing more with them (yet another project). And I even know where I put the stack of cut out canvas! Yay for me!! :) The background is from Lori Davison at Scrapbook Graphics dot com.

Anyway, this digital piece came together as I was thinking about the word "balance". Kelly Rae has talked a lot about this in her ecourse. If you've been following along in the last couple of posts you know I'm taking her course on starting your own creative business. It has been an incredible course. So much information and so worth every penny. I have met some incredibly talented, generous and wonderful ladies along this journey! What a great experience!

Hubby and I met up with some old friends this weekend that were passing through town and had the best time with them. We met for lunch and I don't think I've laughed so much in a very long time. That got me to thinking about how I miss connecting with my friends in Ohio and made me a little more homesick for family/friends there. And then I started to think about the need to balance time with friends and time in the studio. I spend a lot of time alone creating and usually that's fine with me. But I realize that it's also just as important for me to get out and get some fresh air, interact with others and not be such a hermit all of the time.

I have all of these expectations for myself and what direction I want my art to take. Yet I also need to be aware of the need to balance that with time to take care of my health and to check in with my friends and family too. I'm so glad we had that time with our friends this weekend! It was a great eye opener and a fun trip down memory lane.

I do have a few works-in-progress to show. These are NOT anywhere near finished. This first one is from Sharon Tomlinson's class that I mentioned in an earlier post. Oh, it's such a challenge to paint faces! As you can see, I'm very new at it. I like the idea of the technicolor faces and this was my first try for critique. I used a model from a magazine as my inspiration and to be a guide for the placement of lights/darks on the face. Sharon has given me a few pointers and I'll now go in and see what I can do with it. What I like about this: the background!

This next one is a face that I sketched in my oversized journal I got a while back. It's filled with this heavy, cotton watercolor paper. Lots of texture and fun to draw on. This is purely for practice and play; no pressure. I sketched this face and then just started throwing paint on it. Actually it was paint left over from the face I was painting in Sharon's class. So we'll see where it ends up eventually:

And hubby has set me up a nice little workbench in the basement workshop. We've got a few drills, a bench vise, some copper tubing and lots of metal bits...more to come on that later!

6 comments:

Jackie said...

Hi Friend,
I struggle with balance as well and always have. Kelly Rae's course sounds great, I wish I would have taken it. I love the look of your blog and seeing you create . I haven't been able to do much creating. A little lost right now.
I miss chatting with you.
Hugs,
Jackie

Anonymous said...

Balance...boy do I understand! You are growing so much...as a person and in your art. It is wonderful to have a friend like you who always on the same wavelength! Inspiring!

Lori Saul said...

Balance is the key to being the best artist you can be. They often depict artists as social recluses, unable to function in society and with wild mood swings. I'm sure a lot of that is true but I HAVE to do other things and attend to all of the facets of my life equally in order to even want to do artwork. Your journal work here and the last post as well are beautifully expressive and show to me an artist that is confident and imaginative- truly balanced!

Inspire Others said...

Hi Pam T.
Thank you for following me and hope to serve you with purpose. Love your page and big fan of your artistic expressions. My thoughts on "Balance"- wins some, lose some, days are dark or bright, everything is mixed and blended, dust the dirt away, simply stand up, lift up your commitments, lift up your arms and do precisely that- REACH. I'm not that religious type but this seems to work for me!!! ;-)☺♥☺♥ Greetings from FL
Stay well my inspiring friend.
MoMeMa

Kerri said...

i sorta bet you're making more progress than you realize. when it's you, it's sometimes hard to see.

Michele said...

Wow, I've been away way too long! So much new work of yours to catch up on. I totally get the finding balance thing. It's why I have't been blog hopping much. I'm spending all my time focusing on the business side of things, and everything else gets ignored. Not good.

Just this past week I finally let myself go out and have fun, but it sure is easy to hole up and be alone too.

Anyway, these new pieces are lovely, and I'm sure it won't surprise you to know how much I just love that colorful lady!! I think she is fantastic!