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 :)

Thrifty Business

Hi all!! Happy Friday the 13th!!!

Finally the weekend... It's been another rough week for me, my Grannie's funeral was a couple of days ago, so I've pretty much been a total basketcase since then. But the show must go on, and she wouldn't have wanted me to be miserable.

So, what have I been up to? Surprisingly, LOTS!! I haven't drawn or painted anything for a little while, but I'll probably get on that this weekend, as I have my very first art critique on Monday!!! AHHH!!!

A little backround on me. I didn't take any art classes in school. I've only had 2 official art classes, and those were in acrylic painting a few years ago. The only people who really look at my art are usually family, or random people on the internet who I not only don't know. No one who really knows who their talking about has ever looked at my art (or at least not that I know of), so this is a TOTALLY new thing for me! I'm terrified, but also super excited... Raise Your Hand Say Yes right?

So how did this critique come about? Well, a couple months ago I signed up for a group called MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women's Art). They have a mentorship program (the one that I missed the application deadline for:(), and they also have workshops, etc. Well I signed up for their email updates, and their monthly Crit Club popped up. It intrigued me, and when I looked into it further I thought "What the hell, why not!!" and signed up. Then it hit me. What had I done?!? I've never been critiqued!! My art has always been pretty private, and it's only been VERY recent that I've actually opened up my sketchbook and showed the world. This is truly terrifying!!

But I have to do it!! I'm huge on facing your fears head on, and when my imposter complex kicks in, just saying "Yeah, you know what, this is scary, but guaranteed it won't be as bad as you're making it out to be." Pretty sure nothing could be that bad; I have an incredibly vivid imagination. It's both my trump card and Achilles heal:P This is super important to me though!! I've just gotten confirmation that I will, in fact, be having a booth at a Farmer's Market this summer, and since I plan on selling my art I should probably start showing the world a lil bit more... Still terrifying though!!

AAAHHH!!!! Speaking of terrifying, I also went to a couple thrift stores for the first time in my life last night. Pretty sure I was expecting dumpy gross-ness, but that was NOT what I got!! Once I learn what will look good on my body, and what is actually my style, I for sure will not be going retail. WWWAYYY to expensive. Like WWWWAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! I found a bunch of stuff with tags still on that were original $50 marked down to like $10!!! WHOAH!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!!

Come on Style School and Art Critique!!! Needless to say, next week is going to be terrifyingly awesome:) I'll probably be writing a lot about it next week.

Ciao for now!!

Stack of clothes I donated... They don't fit!!

Same pile, different chair:P

My tree art... I may have already posted this... Not too sure:P