The Day After Christmas and All Through the House ...

This was a hard year to catch the Christmas spirit. Other than a few internet purchases, I really didn't do any shopping ahead of time. Which is odd for me as usually I am 90% done before Thanksgiving. But Christmas shopping was definitely a Me & Mom kind of thing and my heart just wasn't ready. Luckily the Saturday before Christmas my oldest daughter came home and we did a marathon trip to the "Lifestyle Center"and got most everything. It was fun. We had a really great time being together. I hadn't had much just the two of us time recently so it was quite special.

Our Christmas celebration started early. Autumn left for Sweden right before Christmas so we had a partial early Christmas on Sunday. (Yes the day right after the shopping spree -guess what I did Saturday night) Matt read the Christmas story from the Bible and Santa filled the girl's stockings with goodies. We exchanged gifts with Autumn that evening; herr biggest surprise, a Madewell leather purse.

Christmas eve, Carey Anne, my youngest daughter, and I went to my brother Robby's house and had soup with him and his family after church. They made traditional plum pudding and eggnog. 

Christmas morning was nice and quiet. Pete made a wonderful frittata from various left-overs and we oo'd and ah'd over all the presents. Carey Anne got a juicer so we had Champange with strawberry, carrot, and blueberry juice. Yum!

Now, the day after Christmas, I am heading over to Robby's house again to visit him and my youngest brother, Patrick who just came in from Baltimore. My middle brother and his family will be here late tonight. I've got to get the makings for our big dinner as Saturday we will feast (as if we hadn't eaten enough already -lol) Then Patrick heads back home Sunday and we will head to Mississippi to visit my Mam-maw, who just turned 97 year old about a week ago.

That's a quick update. I hope you and yours have had a very Merry Christmas and that this coming year will be your best ever!

Hugs and Kisses,

Laurie Anne 

Adventure Girl (Part Three)

Adventure Girl (Part Three)

Well here it is; the final touches. (If you want to follow the whole process; start with Part One then Part Two and finally finish up here with Part Three)

More details on the face and feathers, a little more contrast with white acrylic and black ink and I am ready to scan the canvas. Then Photoshop Time for a few minor tweaks. I decide to try the face paint again. I tend to think of it as war paint -you know life is a battle field and all -but in a good, ready for anything kind of way. This time I copy some of the blue from the background and paste as thick and thin stripes. One of the nice things about photoshop is that with layers nothing has to be permanent if you don’t want it to be -a touch of the mouse and on and off they go.

I apply translucent doodles in red and black on to the girl’s top with custom brushes. I use the dodge and burn tools to to darken the edges and intensify the contrast between elements.

The painting is now complete. Here she is -my brave little warrior girl ready for her grand adventures. Part Phileas Fogg, part Tom Sawyer, part Pocahontas. Poised at that point in life when you truly become yourself. You are ready to take on the word armed with open eyed optimism and fabulous feathers. No doors have yet shut. It is such a scary but exhilarating moment. The world is full of endless possibilities. You feel both small and large. Almost invincible. It is a time for bravery and courage. You are powerful.

There are the obvious milestones in our life when we stand at these crossroads; the transition out of  elementary school then from Jr. High to High School and finally graduation. There is your first big trip, first time living alone, or becoming a parent. There are also those scary transitions like when you quit a stable job to follow a passion. Complicated transitions like the ending of a marriage. Sometimes these times of empowerment don’t have an actual outward sign at all; it is a blooming of the heart and you just know you are ready; Ready for whatever is next. The risk of remaining in the bud is more painful than the risk to blossom.

Finally as the last bit, I have played around with the colors and shapes of my adventure girl; skin, hair, eyes, mouth to reflect the rainbow which is us. All ready for our story to continue.

As girls, young and old, fair and dark, we embrace change and the beautiful possibilities that are yet to come. We will seek the unknown and laugh as the wind tousles our hair, keeping our minds curious and our hearts open.

Quote for the day: I have no idea if it is original or something I copied long ago as it comes from one of my journals but I really like what it says. "Courage doesn't always roar; sometimes it is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."

... & flash is not working again so no music for today. drats :(

Adventure Girl (Part Two)

Adventure Girl (Part Two)

I’m really in the mood to paint but work and getting ready for the garage sale are taking up lots of my time. I’ve been getting up early so I have an hour or two before work for artsy play. I have to set a timer (usually for my music to stop) so that I don't lose my self in my imaginary world. When I create time often becomes relative. I may look up and it has been 15 minutes or just as easily several hours. On the weekends, I can think I am stopping for lunch only to find out it is really suppertime.

I’ve got an idea to try and capture that moment when you sort of become yourself. There is this quote “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” by Anais Nin that has been in the back of my mind a lot lately. (Aside: now she was an interesting lady) It is the same quote I referenced a post or two ago.

Funny how certain things stick with you. Usually there is something personal there -often exactly what isn’t necessarily apparent at the moment but only revealed when seen backwards throughout the filter of time and then it is so obvious, often an AHA kind of thing.

Well, I begin to collage on new elements. I use pages from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Around the World in Eighty Days”because I want to give the piece a feeling of both innocence and excitement. I play with some of my new supplies -a Tim Holtz stencil for texture and distress paint daubed in dots. I also drizzle on fluid acrylics and scribble on watercolor crayons.

The artwork is feeling a little better already. Next I have a painting that my talented daughter Autumn created for my Mom last Christmas. It has these ink and watercolored feathers that will be perfect for my girl’s hair. I scan them in to the computer, adjust to the appropriate size then print. I add them to the canvas with Matte Medium (Love me some Matte Medium!) I stamp out some text, real messy-like and play with its placement but the words I’ve selected are overwhelming the picture so I try several different ways of minimizing the words yet keeping its meaning. It takes quite a few tries before figuring out the right words and placement.

A few days go by and finally the yard sale is over. I can get back to painting again. I haven’t actually attached the text yet because I still need to paint the hair. First, I try a short red bob and black face paint.

The next day, I evaluate and decide I should stick closer to my sketch with a long braid but instead of a sun, I will add a flower in her hair and colorful little dots to the background. I also make the feathers brighter and attach antique lace to her dress.

I’m not loving the black face paint so I paint over her cheeks with white acrylics. I have to wait till the paint is thoroughly dry before I can continue to paint. It is always a bit scary when you make such a drastic change this far along in a painting. If I didn’t make the adjustment though I’d be settling for something I wouldn’t ever be quite happy with. It is also an appropriate part of the process. I feel like my girl is going through adolescence which must include a smidgen of awkwardness.

Once the white paint is dry, I have to add color to her cheeks, then shadows and highlights. I also have switched her eye color from blue to green. The canvas is almost complete. I finally commit to the wording (which has changed yet again) and attach the text and quote.

Only one more installment to go… Are you ready for part three? Won’t be long -I promise.

Music for Yesterday is Colbie Cailet's Try

Music for Today is Taylor Swift's Shake it Off

Music for Tomorrow is RaeLynn's God Made Girls

(YouTube is working again so here is music for all three posting of Adventure Girl at once -just incase it is a odd temporary thing and goes away again.)

Adventure Girl (Part One)

Adventure Girl (Part One)

I have started this post half a dozen times (even finished it once) but I always get sidetracked or lose where I’ve written it. What is it with me and completing things. Goodness. But this time I’m actually typing as I compose so my chances of success are a bit better.

I wanted to share the making of my adventure girl. She didn’t start as you see her now. No, she began during the last art festival. I love getting to paint while outside and since I have to man my booth there is no guilt that I should be doing something more urgent (like cleaning, paying bills, patching sheetrock, etc) I do have to make sure I don’t get too absorbed and miss a sale or a chance to visit with the festival goers, but all in all it is a very pleasant time to paint. 

Well back to the painting, I rather absent-mindedly began my background, sort of devoid of any real direction.  I then drew the face in my sketchbook. The kids at the festivals love to “help” which I think is fun. My initial painting with my faces is pretty loose so if the kids want to add a little pink here or blue there, I know I’ll be adding more color later so it’s all good. Once the face, neck, and arms are painted, I cut them out and add them to the canvas. I decide to do the hair by painting around where I want hair instead of actually painting the hair itself. At this point, I’ve got to pack up and its a week or so later before I can even unpack. My girl is pretty bland. I use my palette knife to splatter a little yellow for a bit of pop. (See the picture below) A spatter of yellow, pop does not make. Boring. Now I’ve got a hint of creative block -where do I go from here.

Insecurities flow in. I’m not really an artist at all. I’m not even much of a painter. I’m boring. I’m bland -no wonder I can’t paint. All those self depreciating damaging statements come vomiting out of my inner critics mouth. I think I’ll just surf the internet -I get into comparison mode. I’ll never be as good as that artist, I’ll never be as creative as that artist, Why do I think anyone would want to have my art? It is a black hole, I tell you. I’m also physically over tired and emotionally overwhelmed with my parent’s passing. I’m struggling to keep a dark depression from sitting on top of my head. I keep feeling like I should be better, but I cry at the drop of a hat.

Finally I give myself a break. I refocus my morning devotional time. I also spend a week doing nothing much but vegging out in front of the tv, eating frozen fruit and pre-made dinners after work. I don’t know if that is healthy but it seems to do the trick. I’m not quite as droopy and life doesn’t feel as overwhelming. It is odd how when you are in that dark place, you know life is good and it is only a temporary perspective issue but in the midst, the hole feels so big and the shovel so small. Intellectually you know that today’s problems are the same as yesterday’s and tomorrow’s and it will all the ok but emotionally what a roller coaster.

Now again back to the painting…. I’m ready. I’m excited. I’m bursting with ideas. I buy some cool supplies with a Michael’s gift card saved from last Christmas. I sketch up some ideas and gather up the items I want to incorporate into my painting.

Cliff-hanger……. Next post with more in-progress photos and final art is coming soon.

No Music for today: My computer is now so out dated that I can no loner access you tube I think it is -time for Santa to do a little computer shopping for under the tree!