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Monday, June 21, 2010

Staying True


One thing that is really hitting home in taking Kelly Rae Roberts' course is her message: stay true to yourself when setting up your creative business and when making your art. There are so many ways to do things...so much inspiration out there...and so many helpful tutorials and articles on "how to" do things that it can all get overwhelming. And then you start to second guess...everything. Am I doing it right? Am I doing anything worth doing? WHAT am I doing? On and on it goes.

I've kind of hit that wall a little bit. I'm so thankful for the information and the resources that Kelly is sharing in her course. They will be invaluable in the weeks to come as I sort it all out. But I had to take a breather and just re-evaluate what it is I am wanting to do exactly. I'm not alone in this dilemma; I've seen others in the class asking the same questions. We're all just trying to make sense of it all and find our own paths. It's all exciting and the possibilities are endless, but you do have to start narrowing down where you want your focus to go!

I tend to be all over the place when it comes to my art. One week I'll really be into painting, then I'll switch to drawing and colored pencils or watercolors, then I'll do some mixed media on a canvas, then I may want to play with encaustics. You get the idea. But regardless of what medium I choose to work in, I have my own ideas on how I want my piece to look and I know a lot of times it's not what is probably considered "correct". Hubby always comments on my girls that I draw: "I like her but her neck is so long". Yes! I want to draw long necks. Maybe I'll stop at some point but right now I want to keep it up. It makes me happy. And happy Pam is creative Pam! :)

So I'm mulling all of this over and still trying to get some art made in the meantime. I started Sharon Tomlinson's class on painting faces in Technicolor. I must say it is a challenge. I don't paint faces too often. I love to draw them and color them with colored pencils and inks. But paint and me...it's definitely a steep learning curve. I'm on the verge of pitching the first canvas. I have so many layers on the poor face it's sad. But it's my first time actually painting a face on a canvas with acrylics. I've attempted faces with watercolors or painting on watercolor paper, which for some reason was a little easier than painting on the canvas.

Sharon had us sketch three versions of the same model. We were to find our own model. Of course with my abundance of fashion magazines laying around I had no trouble with that. We have three different canvases to paint so I have two more fresh ones waiting to start. These are small (6" x 9" canvas boards) so no big loss if I have to trash them. I'm going to persevere one more day with this first one and then call it a "warm up exercise" and start another one. But I want to wait for her next lesson to see what new things she introduces before I tackle the next canvas. I'm glad I saved my favorite sketch on canvas for a later lesson.

Last night I sketched a face in a little 3" x 5" sketch notebook and colored it with my pencils. This is kind of the idea we are going for with the technicolor look on canvas. It's so much easier with the pencils! I scanned her into Photoshop and put her into this digital collage but I wanted you to see the colors that I'm trying to get with the paints. By the way, the sketch is mine but the elements are from Tangi Baxter at Scrapbook Graphics. She is my favorite digital designer. I just lover her style! Now I'm going back to that darn canvas and try again...

7 comments:

Michele said...

I love the lady,and I dig the long necks so don't stop making them.

I know exactly how you feel. I feel like I'm all over the map with the stuff I create. I don't think I have a specific style yet. I have no clue who I am. I just keep making stuff I like to make, and a lot of the time I'm trying new things. I don't know that I will ever be able to settle, there are so many different techniques to try.

I guess the best we can do is keep creating for ourselves like Kelly says, and someday maybe we will pick up a style along the way.

Good luck to you on the face painting. I know how hard that is, which is why I don't usually do it. :) Kudos to you for taking that on! Keep at it, I'm sure it will be beautiful when you are done.

Kerry said...

Hi Pam. I am a fellow flyer & just wanted to say I love your blog & your website. I've put you in my favourites & will pop back to get more inspiration from your site later. I'd become a follower but cAN'T find the button here. I think you DO have a style of your own here, keep going & you will also see and feel it. I admire that you have done anything arty while this course is on! Warm regards, Kerry

studio pashnada said...

I just wrote on my blog today that I'm overwhelmed.
Pam, I think the style thing is a little over-rated. I sometimes look at some people's art and wonder if that's all they can do cuz everything looks exactly the same.
We're mixed-media artists and the very nature of the various mediums means that an acrylic painting won't look like an encaustic.
Embrace it. Love it. Because your enjoyment of playing with the media shines thru.

Viki Banaszak said...

I love that piece! I thought I was the only artist that couldn't stick with one medium. LOL My roomate always asks me why I don't make a tone of one item to sell. I have tried, but once it becomes work, it isn't fun anymore. A bird has to fly free.

Bill said...

I love this picture!

Suzanne said...

Hi from over at Flying Lessons,
Yes, I see that a few of us are struggling with the fact that we do all kinds of art. I think the problem is we're knocking ourselves that we're not Kelly -- and she's pretty successful basically doing paintings. I think you can still be successful doing many things. And you can create a cohesive look for your website, blog, business cards, promotional materials, that all go with your "theme." And paintings, quilts, jewelry can all fit into your theme and who you are. I mean, you're not going to do goth-style jewelry and shabby chic quilts, are you? Whatever you do, they'll probably all have the same theme. That's what I'm getting from this class, and hope to change my blog up to reflect it. Thanks for bringing me by your blog.

Linda R said...

Hello fellow Hoosier! I'm flying with Kelly too and feel like I don't even have wings at all some days! SO MUCH to do, learn and I'm all over the place scrapbooking, soldering, collage, painting eek! I'm still several classes back trying to get 25 fans to "like" me over here http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/Me-Myself-and-You/105043419547115 I will be following you as your blog is such an inspiration, beautiful paintings!