Emerging From The Fog

This is another digital collage I put together using the Manga tutorial I mentioned in my last post. Credit to Intano-Stock for the background (before manipulation).

It's also how I feel lately...emerging from the fog. October was a bad month for me, healthwise. I keep a calendar to document my migraines for my doctor. Last month I counted six migraine headaches and I went through a whole package of Sudafed for the sinus problems. Ugh. I feel like October was a big fog for me. I was so thankful for the days I didn't have either a migraine or a sinus headache. Let's hope that was an aberration and I can start November with a clear, pain free head!

There are so many projects I'm involved in right now and want to dive into. First, I've beaded 58 squares for my fabric-paper wall hanging. I'm a little over 1/3 of the way finished with those. I need a total of 144 squares for what I envision. So, every night while hubby and I watch TV, I bead my squares. I look forward to that time; I spend time with him and make good progress on this huge project. I'm loving the latest batch of fabric paper I just made. I cut the squares last night after the dye was dry. They are a mixture of indigo blue and plum. They turned out gorgeous and I added just a hint of gold webbing spray to the sheet before I cut the squares and started the beading. The beads are indigo, purple, and bronze seed beeds. I'll post a photo of these later. Not everyone gets as excited about beaded squares as I do. ;)

I'm also taking a Photoshop course called Visual Poetry from Susan Tuttle. I love Susan's work with photomanipulation. This class just started yesterday and I'm very excited to learn some new techniques in Photoshop.

I'm also taking an art journaling techniques workshop with Dina Wakely through her blog. She had a gorgeous spread in Art Journaling Magazine and I was thrilled to see her share the techniques from that spread in this class.

So, lots on the table right now. I'm continuing into October with LK Ludwig's excellent class on Point and Shoot Journaling. She has some awesome techniques for making your photos more interesting in your journals. I hope to have some finished spreads to show you very soon. I ended up getting a larger journal for this class. I find that I need big space to work in. By the time I had printed out my photos and put them on the page, there wasn't much room left for journaling or technique in the old journal. I can still use it for smaller journal pages, though.

Now, while my head is clear and November's chill is settling in, it's time to get busy on some serious work today. Hope you all have a great week! I'll check in again soon with some results.

Indecision

This little lady was a sketch I did last week and she certainly proved to be prophetic. Have you ever had just so much stimuli coming at you at once that you didn't know where to focus your energy? That's where I am right now. Funny, I have had this same conversation with three different people this past week.

Anyway, it's ALL good! There are so many new things I'm learning and being introduced to right now that my mind is reeling. It's just all coming at me at once. Recently I was introduced to a new artist through my friend Kimmie, an awesome artist in her own right and the wonderful host at her ning site Digital Whisper. She introduced me to the art of Jared Knight through her paintings and then through his website. He's a fantastic, energetic, totally cool abstract painter. I loved his work as soon as I saw it. And, guess what, .... YES, he teaches classes!

So I watched his intro video and now am completely hooked on his process. I've just ordered my first class and plan on starting the painting later today. Yes, yes, I KNOW, I'm already in so many classes right now going off in so many different directions. Where do I focus?

Who says I have to? You are only limited by the boundaries you set for yourself. Right now I want to immerse myself in all kinds of media. I want to experience it all! I want to draw, paint, do mixed media and whatever else comes my way. Maybe someday I will focus on one particular media but right now I have a passion for ALL of these things and I am pursuing them all with the same zeal.

So, in addition to more faces (YAY! Monica's lesson this week is on drawing the mouth), a new SuziBlu class on Marie Antoinette, and a Frida Kahlo shadow box (ha! You didn't know about that one, did you?), you will also see some abstract art thrown in just to mix things up even further. Keep your mind OPEN to the possibilities. You could decide to combine them all and come up with something totally awesome!

Jared has a website at http://www.jaredknight.com/. This is where he describes himself and his art and where he offers his video tutorials. Right now he is offering a free class where you get acquainted with his style and you paint the painting along with him. It's WONDERFUL! I watched the video this morning. It's called Mountain of Mine. Once you watch his process and his teaching style (totally cool!) you'll be hooked. He has a ning site as well:
http://jaredknight.ning.com/ where the students in his classes show their paintings and discuss the classes. It's a welcoming, friendly place like all of the other incredible ning sites out there. I highly recommend that you check him out. I plan on being a student of his as long he is teaching.

I wish I knew how to make these links "live" but I'll add a badge from his ning site to my sidebar as soon as I finish this post.

So, to answer the little lady in the above piece, indecision isn't a bad thing. You don't HAVE to decide on ONE direction! Go where your Muse leads . . . and follow your bliss!