Craft edition – Watercolor

It’s mid-November and I realized I have yet to post my creative projects from October until now. I spent six weeks exploring the world of watercolor painting. It was such a wonderful experience. Below are some small paintings that I completed and continue to work on.

The above painting was created by dipping yarn in a small bowl of paint. Then I created a small swirl and pulled it away from the paper.

It was really neat to create some texture by laying down some paint. On top I scrunched some plastic wrap and weighted it down with a bowl of water. After awhile, I lifted the plastic wrap and got the above.

For this painting I put down two layers of color and then squirted alcohol on top. It was really neat to see what happened with the paint when in contact with alcohol.

Can you see it? See the squirrel?

I’m still working on the leaf painting. I’m not sure how it will turn out, but excited to see the layers of colors at the end. I’m telling myself to be patient. One thing I have learned about using watercolor is that patience is needed when layering and mixing colors. It’s okay to walk away and return. Seeing the layers of colors is something new for me and I’m glad that my eyes are more aware. Awareness of the colors, sights, lines, and textures that are around me have been such an inspiration. I didn’t think I would learn about awareness and colors from a watercolor class, but I did. I’m thankful for it.

What have you been inspired by lately?

In this moment: A faith to move

In this moment I believe that life is full of so much uncertainty.

Art by Alexander Levasseur

I was talking with a friend about all of the uncertainty that fills our day. I invest in relationships, pursue passions, and travel across oceans by more faith than I think. Do I have all of the answers? No. Do I continue on? Yes. Why? It’s the settling, bitterness and apathy that I refuse to surrender to.

At times, the process to move with faith is so hard. It’s often expressed in tears, questions, and fear. The process to move can be so heavy, as if the weight of that heaviness seeps into the crevices of my life, making it even more so. However, I continue to return to a comfort and encouragement that I am a part of something bigger than me.

Recently, a tune that has been on repeat and carries this theme of moving with faith is this song by The Soil & The Sun. Take a listen, in its entirety.

Goodness, my vulnerability cup has been tipped over, spilled out off the coffee table and onto the carpet.

Help me, Readers, what encourages you to have the faith to keep moving?

A nod to Anna Emilia Laitinen

A Finnish artist has captured me.

Kalevala Teaser 2 by Laitinen

Anna Emilia Laitinen creates paintings as beautiful as her name.

Rain Fresh Tea by Laitinen

You can journey with her thoughts and inspirations at her blog.

A nod to Anna Emilia Laitinen.

Vera Klement: A Painter with Great Severity

At 80 years old, Vera Klement, an oil painter in Chicago, still grapples with the doubts of creating, with wondering what to create next, with creating something that people will understand and connect to. This brief documentary (10 min) follows Vera on a recent project as she paints a portrait in homage to Dmitri Shostakovitch, celebrates her 80th birthday party, and reflects on how she came to paint. Her courage and wisdom are inspiring.

“Really trite things, those are the things that move people,” she says. “But if you paint them with great severity, you can get away with it.”

A nod to Vera and her perseverance.

untitled

It’s Thursday afternoon, but to me it feels like a Friday. The empty water glasses around the house, clean and dirty clothes across the bedroom floor, and paper piles on multiple surfaces are all indicators that I have had a busy week. I came home today from my day job and laughed at myself about how ridiculous my room looks. It’s pretty embarrassing.

A prettier sight is the finished wall at Redamtè Coffee House.

Earlier this week, I mentioned sharing some life changes and recent adventures. I’m a student of art again.

My first watercolor exploration.

I’m enrolled in a watercolor class after being inspired from my first visit to Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. I decided that I need to devote more time to exploring the creative part of me. In order to do that I had to step away from some responsibilities that were good, but not soul worthy. My energy and time was being split among too many things that took more out of me than I originally thought. Although, it was hard to step away, I think everything will be okay.

I’m sure I’ll be sharing some watercolor creations in the near future, but in the meanwhile enjoy your weekend. Happy Weekend!

Let Yourself Be Distracted

Today I have far too many things to get done. So naturally I’ve found several distractions to help me procrastinate.

Like Bartholomäus Traubeck’s amazing tree ring record player, which plays the grooves of sliced tree trunks.

Or Susan Straight’s class project on what makes a home, which went from an exercise on materials and floor plans to deeply personal revelations:

“I have a huge crazy Filipino family, and we buy so many presents at Christmas you can’t see the tree. I mean it. We throw the presents at each other. If you don’t pay attention you’ll get hit in the head. Home to me — what I want — is to have a tree and throw presents at my kids.”

Author Jonathan Safran Foer’s (author of Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close) current project is being a curator for the collection “Retrospective of S.” He wrote the accompanying text for each painting, making up the fictional painter’s life story and her various artistic phases. A group of artists were then blindly assigned to paint one piece. Here’s one by artist Rochelle Feinstein.

Graphic designer Dinah Fried’s latest project involved recreating meals from famous pieces of literature like Catcher in the Rye and Alice and Wonderland. Here’s one from Moby Dick.

A nod to good distractions.

Art Up So Close

Walking through Art Fair on the Square was like seeing 100 exhibits within steps of one another. It was wonderful to get up close to each artist’s work. Below are some of my favorites.

I love Beth Bojarski’s form of storytelling, which she displays on wood with layers of paint. Each character she creates has so much weight to them and it engages me to ask “Who is this?” See more of her work here.

Safe Place to Land by Beth Bojarski

Laura Harris is a mixed media artist who shares the same career background as me. She worked as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) in the public school system for years before committing full-time to art.  She is the second artist who I have met in the past few months who worked as a SLP, and this fact continues to inspire me to keep pursuing the creative side of me.

Twisting a Thought by Laura Harris

My eyes were inches away from Amy Gillespie’s work. At first glance I couldn’t figure out what materials she was using until I read a card that explained the combination of wood, felt, and paint. Her pieces are gorgeous.

Amy Gillespie

A nod to all of the artists who share their work with all of us.

To Lighten the Drudgery

If your Monday work day is feeling a bit like this:

you may need to bounce and sprawl on this crocheted playground by Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam (it’s safe!),

dream about running away on this vintage mod scooter (it beckons!)

and indulge in a few yonderly moments (a word of absent-mindedness and mental distance, deftly illustrated by The Project Twins).

Here’s to a Monday morning and all that it could be.

Watercolor love

Art Fair on the Square is happening this weekend and it will be my first attendance. As I continue to learn about art, I have grown a love for watercolor. I love the layers and blending of the paints. I think it’s absolutely beautiful and my eyes wander with each brush of paint.

Emma Leonard is an illustrator who combines ink and watercolor into a lot of her feminine work. I think one of my favorite combinations is seeing dark ink and watercolor together.

“Hold Me” by Emma Leonard

The Adlas Project is a year-long project lead by artist Kristy Modarelli to make an original drawing everyday and to raise money for three non-profit organizations.

“Days and Nights” by Kristy Modarelli

The watercolor inspiration occurs at 2:45 in Beirut’s “The Rip Tide” video.

Happy Weekend!

When You Can’t Get Over the Rainbow

While breakfasting at a cafe, a local artist – still at large and unknown – reminded me of a very real truth. My fellow eaters and I discovered that the drawers in the old table where we sat not only opened, but contained stacks of napkins that previous breakfasters had written and doodled on, an array of messages from the quality of the cafe to life philosophies to poems to markers of presence: “I was here.”

One caught my eye.

I imagine the doodler had heard one too many optimistic cliches of “Reach for the stars! Take the flying leap towards success and happiness! Defy gravity! You can do anything! Get a puppy! Hold a baby! Dreams!”

The truth: it’s a long haul to success.

I think we can all relate to Belle and Sebastian’s song, “I didn’t see it coming.”

A nod to the unknown artist. I hope your weekend is better, friends. I hope that despite the long haul, you still feel like this: