Recaculating....

Technology... Always recalculating, always rethinking... Not that I can complain. I mean, without it I wouldn't be able to blog, or check my phone compulsively every 5 minutes while my computer is once again recalculating...

Full circle here right? ...maybe... Lost my train of thought there...

Oh wait!! Got it back!! Basically where I was going with that was that I use technology at work daily. I come in, I log on, and I'm givin' 'er for the day. 8-4 for the most part.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job! I'm very happy here! But I'm just the type to wonder... What else is there? Yes, the grass may not always be greener on the other side, but what if sometimes it is? There's got to be more out there than getting up, going to work, coming home, and going to bed right?

WELL! That's what I'm trying to find out! As a multipotentialite/renaissance soul, that whole concept gives me heart palpations. Just the thought of doing the same thing day in day out until I die is enough to send me screaming in the other direction. Which is why I'm starting this looming/sewing/art business-type-thingy I've got going on here. I want to see if there is more out there. If there is life beyond a job. If I can work from home, sleep late, and work later without having to leave the comfort of my own back yard. Nothing beats a try right?

When I think about this on a grand scale, my previous little worries about posters and signage and all that other menial crap really doesn't matter. On a whole, I'm trying something new! I'm trying to see if there's life out there, and I'm jjjuuusssttt starting to get my feet wet. And DAMN!!! That water is cold!! I have a feeling that it'll get colder before it gets any warmer!

But, because I am the way I am, before I've even begun letting that water warm up just a titch, I've got my eyes wide open exploring new opportunities! That's right, this summer of markets hasn't even started yet and I'm already looking past it to see where the winds might take me. I kind of feel like Pocahontas... Oh darn, now I'm singing too!

Anyways, ciao for now!!!

Courtesy of Google Images

Monday with Minions

Hello again world!!

It is another Monday, but I am slightly more peppy today then normal!! First, the wonders of sleeping, and second, I am in an interpretive minion outfit today!!!

So why am I dressed as a semi-minion on a crazy Monday? It's my... STYLE SCHOOL CHALLENGE OF THE DAY!!!! The song that we had to inspire our wardrobe after today is the song "Happy", which is a main song in Despicable Me 2, so naturally... MINIONS!!!

Anyways, that was my morning excitement... Now, what have I been up to? I really am sorry if these posts have been a lil dry for the past week, I'm still trying to adapt to my new sleeping pills:P They are wonderful, but they make me a lil bit drowsy during the day too...

But again, the question of this blog is, what creative endeavours have I been into lately!! Well, as has been the norm over the past few weeks I've been playing around with the creativity of style, which is super duper fun, as well as weaving my heart and soul out.

It has recently hit me that I will be attending a farmers market for the first time in the very near future (like 2 weeks), and I REALLY need to get cracking on my content!! But I've also been super excited to be wearing my woven goods lately as well. A real favourite has been my gold scarf, which I've been wearing pretty frequently as a head scarf.

A real fear of mine was that, yes, I can weave to my heart's content, but what if no one likes it, or worse, what if I don't like it?!? I was SERIOUSLY concerned when all I had to go by were several loops of woven fabric that didn't really look like anything, and at that point, never would. But I went to Dollarama, found a darning needle (a REALLY big needle), and started finishing up some of the products that I'd already finished the main work on.

The result? LOVE IT!! I'm currently hand sewing (my sewing machine is still ill) two pieces together that I purposely wove to be the exact same to make a wider scarf. The hand sewing is slow going, but otherwise it's looking great!! I've also taken stock of my colours and have come to realize that I do, in fact, have more wool than originally thought, and before I go and buy more I should really use all of what I have up. Shouldn't take too long!!

I've also been putzing with a Facebook Page. As of right now it's less than half done (just has a few words on it really), but I think this will really help things too!!

I also went out to my parents farm for the weekend (hence my absence), and went to a couple small town places where I might be able to canvas to hang up some of my artwork. So, now all I need to do is to compose a letter to send out to all of these places (email or snail mail), and a sample piece of art. You never know right? Raise your hand say yes:P

I've really been having fun with the whole slowing down while drawing thing. I guess my biggest worry was, since I'm primarily a writer, that I would lose my momentum/whim and wouldn't be able to get back into it. This happens with writing (as you may have noticed on this blog with a SLIGHT overlap of content), but I'm finding for my sketching I'm not really having any of those problems. I can leave it for sometimes days, and then come back to it without the world ending. I've heard several terms now for the imposter complex (jiblets, vampire voices), but it's super fun to prove them wrong in this instance.

I think I'm finally coming out of my depressed, sleep-deprived slump. This is so exciting for me!! I just need to start painting again (and find my easel) and I'm one happy camper :)

Have a Happy Monday all!!

A Brave New World

Good morning!!!

Has anyone read this book? It's terrible, don't do it. I had to read it in high school and I don't even think that I finished it. It's the expression I love. Trying something new? It's a brave new world!!!

This has kind of been my motto throughout all throughout the last 6 months. It's a brave new world!! Countless times I have stepped out of my comfort zone and, mostly, been rewarded. I took another HUGE step yesterday, by actually wearing what I'm making. That's right, I wore my yellow scarf I made as a head wrap. It looked awesome!! I was terrified to leave the house, but it looked awesome!!

Which is leading me to want to work even harder (and get more wool) because yeah, this is something that people would actually want to wear, and they're versatile!! LOVE IT!!

My big thing is that I keep running out of my product... Aka yarn!! It's kind of mind blowing how much yarn this thing eats up!! A normal size ball will only last for 1 product for a not very wide scarf/headband/whatever my heart can think of.

I've also been pretty busy on the sketching front!! The only thing that I really took away from the critique I went to was to slow down. So, I'm taking my time now and adding in (at least I think I am) a little more small details. It's HARD!!! I rush through everything naturally, so slowing down is almost physically painful for me!! But I have done it, and as a result, my pics are looking better then ever! It's pretty exciting!

Other than that I'm pretty much just continuing to rock out in style school. There's something super fulfilling about dressing to your personality. I mean, to an extent I've always kinda done it, but not really, and DEFINITELY not at work!

Until next time (I promise to have a more food for thoughtish post:P)

Flyin by the Seat of my Pants

HOLY MOLY IT'S WEDNESDAY!!! Tonight is literally the only night I'll have at home to myself, and that's only because I cancelled an event I was supposed to go to... UGH...

So, what have I been doing?? Well, Monday night was my first ever art critique... Ugh... Everyone was super nice, but I feel like I'm still digesting everything... When I said that everything that I had done so far was self taught, it was almost discounted... Like I should go and take some classes right now... If I wanted to take classes I would have by now, I just don't have time. Another suggestion was to join a group. Yeah, this might be fun, but right now I really prefer to work on my skills by myself... Ugh... Just been bugging me ya know:P

Anyways, so that was Monday night and my first ever professional critique. Not too sure if I'd do another. I didn't get home until pretty late on Monday, but as a huge bonus I didn't work until noon yesterday (Tuesday) so I got to sleep off a bit of my unhappiness with life recently.

Now, Monday was also the official start of my Style School, and our power song outfit challenge. This is basically listening to a pre-selected song and picking out an outfit that goes with it. This has really been stoking me up all week and I've really been having fun with it. On Monday the song was Katy Perry's "Roar", to which I responded with my beloved orange top and some semi-shimmery black pants. I REALLY wasn't feeling it at all to be honest. I was SUPER worried about my crit that evening, but whatevs right:P Yesterday, however, I dawned the most colourful outfit I've worn in a lllooonnnggg time! It was super fun! And super weird. I'm not used to giving what I wear more than a once over to make sure there's no terrible stains on it.

Today, however, I had some real fun with it! The song was "I Will Survive," which some of you may or may not know, is sung by a talking pug named Frank on Men in Black 2. My natural reaction to this song? Suit up MIB style!! So much fun!! There's a pic of it down below:P

This whole clothing thing is a whole new side of creative that I haven't even begun to explore! I'm having a real hoot! Who knew right? This was totally something out of left field that I wanted to try out, not  expecting all this. We are also doing exercises to find out what's inside (true personality) so that it can match the outside. First off we had to petition family and friends to come up with three words that best describe us. The response was amazing!! I made a wordcloud for a pump up:P

Anyways, I'm having a super time experiencing and playing with this new type of creativity:) Now to plan my Born to be Wild outfit for tomorrow:D

Men in Black style... With bare feet:P

Feeling Colourful!!

What others think of me:P

Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire

Whew!! Still slogging down that ole road!!

Another busy weekend has come and gone, and it's Monday again... Ugh... As everyone knows, I HATE Mondays. Like a lot. Ugh... Anyways, there's a couple things going on today that are making my Monday slightly better!

First and foremost, Style School has kicked off officially!! Yay!! This is super exciting, and I've been looking forward to it for a lllooonnnnggg time!! ...it has also become very apparent that I need to figure out how to accessorize... Like badly!!

This, however, is not what I'm currently panicking about. I also have my very first Art Critique tonight... AHH!!! I know that I've mentioned it previously, but it seems to have come up wwwaaayyy too fast. Whew!! I still have no idea which piece to bring... Like none... Ugh... I asked my sister on Friday evening which one she liked best, and she picked my tree pic.

Now, if you recall, this was something I sketched out after having a complete and total meltdown. What does this pic mean to me? You might not be able to see it in my artwork, still a rookie here, but I think that it's something that calms me. I love to sketch and paint nature, or things that I think are old and have some history. LOVE history. Hm... Going further into introspection, maybe this is why I'm so obsessed with drawing The Forks. Anyways, my house was built in 1923, and is one of the oldest houses in the neighbourhood. I can only assume that the tree has been there almost as long. That's what drew me to it (no pun intended :P) I guess. Thinking about who planted it, or who watched it grow. How the neighbourhood has changed since it was planted/planted itself. How my little house has changed in that long period of time. Interesting to think about, isn't it?

I think I just solved my own question about my artwork. The bulk of it is history related, which elicits REALLY strong emotions in me that I draw. ...and I just really like large bodies of water... It's a thing, I'm OK with it.

Aside from this being possibly the most scatter-brained post to date, it's also been VERY insightful for me. When I started typing I had no idea why I drew that tree. I didn't know what the concept behind my art was. But, even though I didn't know outright, the answer really doesn't surprise me. It's kind of soothing in a way, and exciting to know that I can change it whenever I want and go in any direction I chose. This is just for me.

I'll let you know how she goes!!! Now I'm not nearly as nervous :)

May the 4th be with You (And Revenge of the 5th)

Yes, I'm a proud nerd! And so I say, May the 4th be with you!!

It seems like a lifetime since I last posted anything. A lot has happened in the last couple of days, namely my Grannie suddenly passing away. So it's been a devastating week all around. At the moment this is an experimental post.

 

Creative-wise I actually haven't been doing too badly. I started this post yesterday (Star Wars Day :P), but just didn't have the heart to finish. Anyways, I did get a lot of crafty stuff done yesterday. I painted 2 pictures (water colour!), and did a sketch of The Forks again.

 

Side bar, The Forks is a pretty big tourist destination here in Winnipeg and probably my favourite place in the city. It's super historic (previously established that I'm nerdy that way), there's lots of cool original shops, and it's beautiful to just sit by the river. Anyways, I went there last Friday on my last day of holidays and it has since become my favourite place to sketch (apparently). I've done 2 now (see below), and after tagging The Forks in it via hashtags, they've liked both of my pictures right away on Instagram. It might not seem like much, but I personally am SUPER STOKED!! I'm pretty excited that my artwork is starting to get noticed.

Which means that now I really have to update my Instagram personal info and let people know that I'm actually selling stuff now... Ugh... Work... It was also really exciting that my cousin recognized right away what I drew. I'm kind of all about artistic interpretation. When I try to draw something exactly how it actually looks, if it doesn't look EXACTLY like the actual object I get super down on myself. Even though I really shouldn't (I'm still pretty new at this, and am for sure not a camera), so I've decided to stop trying. If it looks close enough to what it actually is, I'm good.

I've also taken my first step towards official abstract painting. I couldn't think of what else to paint, so I just grabbed the colours that I liked and kinda smeared them all a page. When I was done I kinda thought it looked like fireworks, but when I showed it to my sister and cousin they both agreed that it looked like autumn leaves. That really intrigues me! It wasn't supposed to be anything, just a smear of colours on a canvas, but it turned out to be a possible 2 things. And that's just from the 3 of us. Mind blowing right?!?

This has kind of been a therapeutic post, I'm still incredibly out of sorts and not quite myself. Now I can definitely see how art and writing can be used for therapy. I feel slightly better already :)

Thanks to all who suffered through:) I should be more myself and back to my regular endeavors next post (hopefully).

A Needle over the Edge

Well folks, I finally snapped! First, I was trying to figure out how to sew a historically accurate skirt for my dress. I figured that to speed things up on such big seams I would use my sewing machine.

Backstory on this, I was sewing another outfit back in January and I broke a needle on my machine at pretty much the same time I ran out of my good thread. So, I managed to find another needle and some more thread, both second rate and kinda crummy. But it was the night before a big event and I needed the outfit. Chaos ensued. I wasn't sure at the time of it was the needle or the garbage old thread I was using. Well, now I know it WASN'T THE THREAD!! I have now come to the conclusion that I need a new needle for my machine (after half an hour of playing with the tension of the machine, the bobbin, and just about everything else). It was in this time I completely snapped. I yelled, I screamed, and I may have done some damage to the pieces of material for my skirt...

Anyways, long story short, I but the dogs in their kennel and went for a walk to the library to pick up some books I have on hold. Turns out Wednesday is the one day a week when it closes early! Ugh!! So, if I couldn't calm myself down by wandering around books, by God I needed chocolate. To 7/11 I went.

Then it hit me, meditation. I was so all over the place from stress and frustration I needed something to bring me back and center me again.

I've been playing with meditation for a little while now, and so far I've had some really good results with it. Lacy Young is the genious who introduced me to this. I had been curious about it for some time, but didn't really know where to start. So, while listening to my favourite podcast, I finally got some clarity. Lacy was featured in one of the New Years Resolution episodes, and it was love at first listen. Ever since then I've been scouring her website (link above). She has soooo much good, free (my favourite price:D) content it's unbelievable. Her guided meditations are to die for. This is what I've been using for my inner peace lately.

So, the moral of this post I guess, is keep breathing no matter how frustrating life gets, and find something that gives you some peace. It may not be a crappy sewing machine needle that finally sends you over the edge, but if you're not careful something definitely will.

Ciao for now!!

P.S. These are some wonderful pieces of art I cranked out after I calmed down😊