channeling my inner girly girl

Okay......so I am SOOOOO not a pink and purple kinda gal. 

My class is in week 4 of 5 and I was SO looking forward to this last week like no other, Wall Art, my comfort zone! Imagine my face as we're given the assignment and the color scheme I needed to work in was.... purple and pink. Picture total let down, heart break, a deep black hole into which I had sunk.

But, after the initial crushing blow, I decided that this is something I could do. I can make something purple and pink and totally love it. 

And I did. I totally surprised myself and was actually a little inspired by the end. What other color stories have I not considered that might be totally awesome? I think this project opened my eyes in a way I haven't considered before. While I have pushed myself to try other techniques, I haven't necessarily dived in the realm of color and this really excites me!

Here are a couple close-ups of this mixed-media piece. 

project time with Lilla Rogers MATS e-course

I've been off the radar a bit again here lately as summer begins to sizzle out here on the east coast. 

I've been happily emersed in Lilla Roger's Make Art That Sells e-course that started in the beginning of June. It's a five week course that covers various art markets and it's only half-way through and my mind has been totally blown. 

Week 1 we reviewed the bolt fabric market and I have to say this is not an area I really saw myself being drawn to. I, myself am not a big sewer, but my eyes are definitely more open to  the needs of that area and possibly how my art could translate into it.

Here is my tea towel project idea that I created for that week. I had a ton of fun sketching kitchen items, something I haven't really thought of doing before. 

I did my project collage style, something I've ALWAYS loved. I have to say that I was intimidated at first by the level of talent of all the artists involved in the class, but by the end of the week I felt a bit more secure in being who and where I am. I was really impressed by the skills of all the graphic designers and what they can do on the computer.....and I'm just not there, but that's okay. Perhaps that will be something I'll look into, I'm not sure if that's totally me right now.

It's funny how I find myself rubberbanding back and forth from feeling like I belong in the world of art, and that insecurity that creeps up and tells me I don't. Even during that first week I felt like I went through such a whirlwind of emotion as intimidation eventually led me back down to a place of comfort with my work. The community of artists that have come together to take this class is amazing. Although the level of talent is intimidating, everyone is SO supportive and generous with each other's comments and suggestions. It's been a place where we can all take artistic risks, see ourselves growing, and cheer one another on as we push ourselves to get as much out of this course as possible. I'm thankful that I decided to take the leap and try it.

Here is the cover I designed for a fairy tale.

This last week revolved around the Children's Book Market, something I would love to get into. I had a lot of fun creating these characters and I did some mild Photoshop work which I'm pleased with. I colored the turquoise background and the words "the snail" on the computer and I was pleased with the results. Like I said, I've got extremely low Photoshop skills...lol! I normally do everything by hand, but I like how doing the background this way combined my illustration work with something more bold. I think it makes my characters pop.

Now, I'm off to work on another project for wall art....I'll share my progress soon.

Happy Summer friends!