December Painting

Was it too cold to paint? Nope. Sure the cement was cold through my pants, but the sun was actually relatively warm and the hot chai tea helped keep me toasty.

Bundled up with a killer view of the Olympic mountains and enjoying these sunny December days is my idea of a good time. It was relaxing and fun. In public, but also in nature.

I almost gave up with the idea of painting after the cap to my gray paint got stuck on. I have to have my gray. It is one of the more versatile colors and I often use it mixed with blues and greens to help get the muted colors I want. My persistence helped and I eventually got the cap off.

Sure I didn't finish my painting. I had a time pressure and other things still to do. And singing in the bunkers, even by oneself is a must. Although it is a tad more creepy to walk the dark halls with just the sound of boots hitting the cement.

Progress Check: 2016-2017

Tonight, I looked through my paintings and artwork as I got all the pictures into one folder... I've been painting for a little over a year now and it's super cool to see the difference in my work during that time. I can't wait to get home and look through the rest of my stored art work that I don't have pictures of... 

The top picture was done before I actually had watercolor paints. It was done with two different sets of watercolor pencils. The bottom picture was done this within the last ten days. I think it's fascinating how my style is starting to form and I'm getting my own distinct look in my paintings.

Mistakes make for Learning

I have a tendency to paint the foreground before the background and always regret it. This time, I did the same thing. I was over half way done with the trees when I realized I could no longer do an in depth background like I had planned.

I am thrilled with all the things I'm learning about painting. This week, I learned that gently penciling in my design helps me actually finish a painting. I'm learning to blend colors to get more muted tones or more realistic shades. That the more I practice the better I'll become. I'm learning to not get discouraged by all the amazing art I see on social media.

Most of all, I'm learning that it is good to embrace my style. To just relax and paint and not worry about how it's going to turn out, or what kind of mistakes I'll make. Which is hard for me to do. I may or may not be a bit of a perfectionist.

Sunset Attempt

So last night, my much needed break was in the form of a part of a Costco muffin (which was a total throw back to childhood), paints and Pandora (Milk Carton Kids) through my Beats. A pretty darn perfect evening.

I'm still stuck on sunsets. I feel like, in an attempt to study sunset, I need to go watch a bunch of them. I love how there is a different sunset every night and even in different states or places they look totally different.

This sunset was what I considered to be one of my better sunsets... I think it has more tones and shades in it. It looks a little whimsically to me, which I like. I got the paper wet before I started adding color, which helped blend the colors together in a less blocky way. 

It was sitting in my room when Elsa saw it today and said "Oh, you painted fire!". It was a bit hilarious, because I see this one as one of my less fiery sunsets.  

Grace and Backgrounds

A couple weeks ago, Elisabeth and I were texting and for some reason, for the past few months we've been discussing slightly odd topics. Let's say, thought provoking topics. What do you want to be like when you are old? That was one question that we discussed at like 2am while lying on her couch eating way more white cheddar popcorn than we should have. 

The next questions I asked because I spend WAY too much time on Pinterest. I came across the My Intent Project. In trying to pick a word that would embody everything I want to be (Christlike not included, because we're all striving for that one already), we threw around a lot of different different words: empathy, patient, kind, confident, strong. I narrowed it down to two words, kindness and forgiveness

Thinking about these two words, we discussed them further and decided that an a weird sort of way, the word grace covers both words. I think it's kinda hilarious that my name is such an inspiration... To me. It's a constant reminder and it's sweet. 

Anyway, I kinda accidentally did this background, and of course can't replicate it no matter how hard I try. It makes a great background for one of my favorite sayings. 

Painting with a Toddler

Today I was brave. I decided to brave the mess of paint and let Elsa paint with my watercolors. I lined the part of the counter that she was working at with plastic wrap and taped it down in one spot to hold it in place. She wanted blue, purple and red. With a paper plate palate, I got her set up.  

It was so fun to see how into it she got. She was serious and had fun. She was excited to show Lisa when she got home for lunch and said that one of her three paintings was for her and the others were for Samuel. 

For an hour of fun, there was hardly any cleaning up to do. And this water color paint comes off of skin relatively easily, which is a good thing. :-) Unlike glitter... 

Her works of art. The middle is by far my favorite and her first one, the green one was her last one and she says it's a princess. 

A Bit of Fall

Fall colors. Vibrant and natural. Leaves are just starting to fall here and the trees are barely starting to change colors, but as the temperature cools off to the low eighties instead of low nineties, it feels like fall is well on the way. This is my first attempt at an autumn tree...

Blue

Blue. The ocean. The Sky. Forget-Me-Nots. Eyes. Sapphires and precious stones. Distant mountains. The night's sky and galaxies. Steller's jays and other birds. Blueberries.

While watching painting tutorials, I was surprised when they used blue in the foliage in trees. Even though I have yet to try painting my trees that way, I noticed on the long drive back from Michigan, that there was indeed blue among the array of colors in the fall trees. I'm not saying obvious blue, I'm talking about the undertones of blue.

Lately I've been loving the color blue. The five different shades of blue that I own are each so different and with different amounts of water or paint, the colors vary endlessly to different tones. To me, blue has depth and character. 

A Painting Place

This was my painting place. I used our family travel trailer as a bedroom for the past four years. Since I started painting, I used this area even more. My first piece of framed art was up in this trailer. It became the home for many paintings, scattered about the trailer, leaning against everything. 

This is where I first started painting. It hold happy memories of music and painting, creating with siblings or friends 

From left to right on the back ledge: 

-The drawing of Soldier 76 from Overwatch that Alexa gave me

-A picture of me and Elsa that Samuel and Lisa gave me after my 6 month stay

-The galaxy painting I painted at CAMA camp with my new friends

-A list of characteristics I want to cultivate 

-The painting of my dear CAMA Camp field

-Mini picture of four of me and four of my siblings

-A Hawaiian girl blowing a kiss from my grandparents. 

On the benches are my supplies, my CERT kit, my memory box and yes... a sword.... So this was my painting space before I moved to Tennessee.

Emotions and Paints

I drove away angry. I had no destination. I needed a happy place. I needed to think, to clear my head. To calm down. 

Deception Pass is always gorgeous, no matter what the weather. This particular day was warm and beautiful. I walked out to the beach and found a picnic table with a gorgeous view and settled in. I had packed myself lunch and made tea. 

The drive had cleared my head a bit and listening to slack key guitar and painting calmed me down. It gave me time to reflect, time to pray, time to focus on something besides the bad. These hours of painting always put me in a good place.

I finished the afternoon up by walking on the beach collecting rocks to paint, taking pictures and singing with the windows rolled down on the drive home.

Anyway, this is me, real and a little rough-edged, learning to embrace the mess of life.

A Journey's Start: Watercolor

I started my art journey in September of 2016. I think what started it was watching my brother teaching himself to draw. Then the Bible teacher at the camp I go to every year did amazing art while teaching. I found it inspiring.

I'm not artistic. Cooking is my art. I could never do that. These are things I told myself. Excuses I told myself. Then someone called me out on it. It takes practice, copying the same piece over and over again until you find your style.

A borrowed box of Crayola watercolor pencils and I started experimenting. Then came a name brand set of watercolor pencils. Then, in October, I purchased my first tube of watercolor paint from Hobby Lobby. Chinese White. I needed stars for the galaxies I was creating. Then I bought a dark blue. Experiments with that blew my mind as I saw the different shades from one color. I was fascinated with what I could create.

The creases of my hand.

Slowly I built up my paint collection. Colors that matched or ones I needed for specific project. I would use a 40% off coupon for each one, slowly building my collection. Whenever I felt uninspired, I would buy a new paint. I still do.

I am excited to continue learning and loving art. And that is how I became an artist. Barely artistic, but an artist non the less.