The Results of A Little Commitment

My New Years Resolution for 2013 was to get more involved with my art. Back in March I told you about various projects that I had been doing for the Art House Co-Op .  I had also signed up for a few other projects by that time, that I knew I wouldn't be able to share until they were all done.  The idea was, that if I committed to such painting projects, it would force me to take the time needed to complete them. It was a good plan.

Early in the year, on Facebook, I saw someone post something about giving away things they made to the first five people who commented on that status line.  There was a condition that the responders post the same offer on their page.  Then I saw more of my friends post the same notice I mentioned to one of them that I'd love to get in on that, but I didn't know what I could make. She told me that a small painting would be lovely, so I jumped in with both feet.  I lucked out though, as, instead of having to make things for five people, and only getting one thing back, I managed to get into a basic exchange with four other people. I posted on their page and they posted on mine.  I was thrilled, but still had to figure out what I would paint for them.  I was very happy that the project deadline wasn't until the end of the year so I had all year to work on it.

The lady who said she'd be happy with a small painting happened to have a photo on her facebook page that I had already saved to file, as I thought it would be a good thing to try painting someday.  I would have asked her permission if I'd done it for any other reason than to give to her for this project, but it seemed the perfect subject for this, so I started with that.

This is the first time I had ever tried to paint a dog, I thought he was pretty cute, though I wasn't sure if she would recognize him or not.  As she has a few of these little fellows, I'm still not sure if she identified it as the right dog.  I don't know the dogs personally, so I have no way of knowing which one it was originally meant to be either.  It doesn't matter, I guess, as she seemed pleased with it, and I was pleased that it resembled any kind of dog, let alone a specific one. Not too bad for a first try, I was thinking.

That made it easier to decide what to do for the next
project, as there was a dog at that household too.  I went back to the facebook files to see what I could find for the second project, and I came up with the family beagle.  That's a step forward as now I had to contend with an entire dog, not just the head. I was very happy with it when I finished, but now, months later, I'm not so sure.  Perhaps I've improved as the year went on, causing me to be more critical now. However, it was mailed off to one of my long lost cousins, who immediately recognized her dog, and sent many thanks, so I guess that was another success.

A friend of mine had seen me working on both of the above projects and made some rather nice comments, so I thought I'd surprise him by trying to paint his puppy. He's not on Facebook, but he does have a Flickr account, and while he thinks his photos are safe there, I do know how to steal them.  He was extremely pleased when I presented it to him.

Oh, I must say that in the past I've never felt that I produced anything good enough to give away, and here I am doing it time after time. I guess that in itself is a step forward.

So, since I'm learning to enjoy giving away paintings, I decided I'd try a portrait. My daughter-in-law had lost her grandfather over the winter months, and the family was preparing to do a memorial service for him in the springtime.  I thought he had an interesting face, but in most of the pictures I saw of him, he had on a baseball cap.  While I wanted him in his overalls, I didn't want the cap, so I looked for another photo of him facing the same way, and then combined the two. I was really happy to have produced a human face, but since I didn't know the gentleman well, I wasn't sure if I had captured him or not.  I took it to my daughter-in-law and asked her if she recognized this person. She got the sweetest grin on her face and said, "That's my Grandpa!"  I asked if I could take it to the memorial, and she said I could. When I arrived there was no one around to see me place it among he other pictures on display, and it took a while before anyone knew where it had come from.  Then one of the aunts said, "There's only one artist in the room."  LOL  I've been elevated to artist status now. That made my day.  The painting went to reside at the family cottage where the old gentleman spent a great deal of his time.

With one portrait under my belt, I decided to try another. I couldn't find usable photos of pets on Facebook to use for my next exchange project, so I made off with a photo of the lady I would be sending the painting to.  Faces were a nice change from dogs, and I think perhaps I even do better at them.

Meanwhile, I had also discovered something called the Petal Parade on Wet Canvas. I told you about that back in May, when I painted the Parrot Tulip.  For me, to finish painting something within less than a months time, takes a concentrated effort.  I started with the Parrot Tulip in May.

Moved on to Apple Blossoms in August

And switched to acrylics to try a pumpkin flower in October.

I decided it was time to get back to my exchange project, and I just had one more to do. Since I was doing so well with faces, I decided to capture this lady in one of her many costumes. She's involved in re-enactments, steampunking, archery, face painting, belly dancing and karate, so she's seldom in regular clothing.

I discovered that while I had no trouble with likenesses at a larger size, when I made it smaller, even the tiniest fraction of an inch out, you create a totally different person.  I rather like this painting anyway, and may make it into cards, but it definitely could not be sent out as the final exchange project.  So, back to the drawing board, so to speak.

I noticed she had a new dog, so I took a stab at him.  Cute little fellow, don't you think.  I hope she's as happy with him as I am.

I couldn't finish out the year without doing one more dog.  I have a friend who is good enough to give me a lift to various functions in the area that I wouldn't have gotten to without her. She has a pug, so I decided I'd surprise her with a little Christmas present.  I'm getting rather confident at painting dogs, and I must be doing alright as now I've had a few people ask me if I'd paint their pets.

All in all, the idea of committing myself to projects this year has worked very well.  It kept me painting while some other friends from my old paint class tell me they have not picked up their brushes at all this year. All this practice has given me more confidence, and, I'm sure, increased my skill levels as the year went on.

I did very well at keeping my New Years resolution for 2013.
Now I just have to set some new goals for the coming year.

Who Needs the Ides of March!

Yesterday was NOT a good day.
I was trying to load my Tax software. The first time I did it a week ago, I
got the payment made but before I could print the receipt and get the access
code, the computer froze up and shut down.

Once I made sure they didn't charge me, I tried again yesterday. I got the
payment made, got the access code, and did the download. Then the program
wouldn't open. All I got was a notice saying it was not a Win32 application.
So I contacted them again, and they said the file must have gotten corrupted
so I was told to delete it and download again. But I accessed all this
through a disc, and the disc, wants payment before you can go any further.
I'll have to go online today and see if I can get my access code to work
with the downloads from there. .....though from what I can see so far, they
want payment before a download too.

And that was just the beginning of my day.

I wanted to submit my latest Art House Co-Op project.  We were supposed to draw a portrait of someone we know, in just 5 minutes time. I'm not used to drawing people from a live model as it is, and mine managed to wander off before my time was up, so it's not my fault he looks 30 years older in this rendition.  Then I discovered the link to upload it had disappeared. Art House tried to tell me it was due two days earlier than my records indicate, but since they have removed it, I couldn't see for myself. They did let me put it up on the Flickr page though.  After that I wrote their techies a note saying that part of the fun in doing these projects was in the sharing, but since they now have decided to delete all the latest projects on the list after the due date, nobody will ever find them.

The day progressed.
My hubby needed a prescription refilled but since his doctor had recently told
him to take a whole pill instead of a half pill, he ran out sooner than expected and the
the insurance won't pay for them.  I had to deal with the medical centre
and the druggist.  Hopefully that's all sorted out, but I won't know until I
go and try to pick them up today.

I got so frustrated with my day that I decided to take a pot of tea and a
book and go have a nice hot soak in the tub ... even if it was at higher
energy rates at that time of day. I just nicely got into the water and the
light bulb blew out.

Later I went to Zumba. We have no actual instructor there, but follow a
video projected on the wall. The lady with the projector didn't come, so we
had to try to follow it from a laptop screen.

That was my day yesterday.
And now it's the Ides of March.
Heaven help me!

Art House Co-Op Keeps Me Busy

I decided early this year that I would make the time to play with my art more often this year. Play seems to be the optimum word so far.  There are a couple of days a week that I gather with others to create and possibly learn new techniques.  Meanwhile I sign up for projects that will force me to think in new ways, and at least get off the computer long enough to be a bit creative.

Art House Co-op is great for that. I first learned of them though a couple of acquaintances who were taking part in their annual Sketchbook project. For a fee, Art House will send you a blank sketchbook which you are to fill and mail back by a specified date. Then it goes on tour all over the United States, and maybe a Canadian city or two. I just don't think I'm ready to participate in that project, but I did find they have lots of other little projects available throughout the part of the year when they aren't busy with that tour.  Last year I got in on a few of those and really enjoyed it. See The Art of Progression from last May.  This year they are offering them far more frequently and I'm jumped on several already.

The first one I did was the Things Found - by Accident.  We all go places on a regular basis and perhaps don't always see what we as going past along the way. This project had us looking more closely, and sharing what we found. I sent them two photos, which is likely against the rules. One was something unusual that I'd actually never noticed before, and the other was something pretty that I passed all the time, but never really looked closely at. They posted the prettier one, above.

The second one I got in on was an infinite scroll which would become a monster when strung together. They sent a template that had the start and end markings, and you could string those together anyway you wanted, and the markings would line up with anyone else's start and finish markings.  It was so popular, they even extended the number of people who could take part. As I've become more interested in abstract and multimedia this past year, I had fun creating this.  Remember, it's just a section of a very long monster scroll. You may be able to see the whole thing at http://www.sketchbookproject.com/infinitescroll

The third one I got in on was for the encyclopedia of work.  We were to simply to take a picture of our work place.  My hubby and I own a karate club.  He teaches and I do the administrative work, so I took the camera to class one night.

There was one where you had to sketch the tallest building in your town, but you only had 5 minutes to do that in.  I had a lively discussion on Facebook about which building should be considered the tallest.  Though the roof tops of several line up fairly well, the United Church was my choice because it started a full story lower down from road level.  At one time the road was actually down at that level too, but when it was raised, the lower level on the two street sides of the building were buried too.  Five minutes passes very quickly when you are sketching, so there's no time for erasing and getting everything just where it belongs. At least, not for me.

Then we were asked to create a map of some adventure we have either had, or would like to have. I thought the hardest part of that was to figure out where I wanted the map to be of. That was until I started.  Trying to get words and/or pictures anywhere near where they should be isn't all that easy.  But now I have a great little reminder of last summer's vacation, when we went geocaching in the Muskoka region.  I kind of wish I had put a dirty wash around the edges though, just to make it look more like a treasure map.  After all, that is what we were after....so I may just do that yet.

Recently there was a project called The Meal.  Each of us were to post a photo of ourselves and our midday meal.  That doesn't sound hard either, but I tried it from several angles and kept missing part of the meal as I couldn't see what I was aiming at.  I ended up getting most of myself out of the picture.  People from all over the world take part in these projects, and so there was great variety represented in this project. I submitted the standard soup, salad and sandwich luncheon. This project was meant to help raise awareness of world hunger.

 I found I had missed out on another infinite scroll.  This one was going to be of outer space. I would have loved that as I've done a few spacy things in the past.  But the message somehow slipped into my spam folder and by the time I spotted it, they already had the 500 they allowed to sign up.  These spots go quickly.  So, I have just decided to share my last space inspired painting here anyway, even if it can't, and won't fit on the infinite scroll.

The most recent project I've submitted was for an encyclopedia of tools. Now, there are all kinds of tools around here. Some in the kitchen, some in the garage, some for doing crafts, some for doing home improvements and many that I have no idea what they actually are..  I wasn't sure what I would do for this project, until last Friday when I was at a friend's place and saw her paint brushes on the table. I grabbed the camera and took a picture.  Then I used my computer tools and ended up very happy with my submission.

I'm still currently signed up for two other projects due this month, but as you can see, I'm having fun.  There are also plenty of projects that I have not signed up for.  Some of them are even for writers.  If  you think you might like to have a look at what is available, just go to The Sketchbook Project and have a look around.  I'll try to keep you up to date with these things as they happen from now on.

I have also managed to do a few real paintings this year, all in watercolour, but I'll tell you about those some other time.

For those of you wondering what happened to Freebie Friday last week, I spent the Kellogg's free product coupon on a Jumbo Sized box of Frosted Flakes, and saved $7.48.  It was a very slow mail week, but I did get another one of these coupons in place of the other gas card application I made.  I'm quiet happy with that, but I doubt you wanted to see it again.

The Art of Progression

I seem to be a bit more serious about my art this year. Instead of working on it for a couple of hours once a week, I'm doing something at least 3 times a week now...sometimes more.  I have some good newsletters, and bloggers to follow, and I discovered a site that inspires me to try new things.

Though I have been attending art classes for a number of years, I wasn't progressing very fast. I guess I don't have any natural talent, but I do enjoy playing with the paint so I just keep going.  Last year a couple of things happened. First a friend asked me to bring some of my stuff to a church hall where it would be displayed along with hers over the winter months. Then I was asked to sit and paint in a garden that was part of a tour.  I don't know where I found the nerve, but I did it, and greatly enjoyed the experience.  The resulting paintings  were among the best I'd ever produced to that point, so that boosted my confidence. 

More than one of the blogs I follow mentioned art journals, so I went and bought myself a multimedia journal, and have been enjoying having that space where I can create and experiment without fear of failure. Sometimes I can't seem to leave that little book alone!

This year I found the Art House Co Op online and took part in a couple of their projects. First I did the 4x6 exchange project. We were instructed to create a piece of art just 4x6 inches in size, and mail it, along with a self addressed stamped envelope to the Art House Co Op by a certain deadline. They sent the artwork on to someone else who participated.  I created  a painting of a local church, and got back a card with a little motorcycle riding along a thin red line.  Another friend got back a truly beautiful card with a leaf pattern on it.

The second, and most recent project I got involved in was called Mystery Project. Everyone who signed up was sent a Prismacolor Pen and an little card with a theme on it.  The idea was to create something with whatever colour arrived to match the theme presented.  I got a Red Prismacolor pen, which has a thin nib at one end and a truly thick one at the other.  My theme was The Future of the Year.  Well, that instantly made me think of two things. The first was about being In the Red, and the other was more to do with fire. We are told there will be some major sunspots later this year and the long range weather forecast also tells us we will have hotter and dryer conditions than usual.  Either way, there will be flares or flames.  I decided to go with that one. 

The second part of that project was to leave it anonymously, in a public place, for someone else to find. I've just left it in the perfect spot. I can't tell you where  it is though I did leave mention of the Art House Co Op Mystery Project on it so the finder might be able to look that up and discover what it's all about. 

It was a fun project and I do hope they offer some more of these little creativity kick starters real soon.  Right now they are busy with the annual Sketchbook Project. I'm not involved in that , but am actually thinking about it for next year. I think that would be another major step forward.