That’s just how I roll

My life has changed up a lil bit again. 

I got a JOB!

I haven’t had paying job since 2002. Staying home and raising 4 kids is certainly WORK, but I didn’t exactly get paid to do all that I did for these 4 human beings. 
Now that my life has changed in a way that I need a little extra income, this part-time work is a blessing.
It was a challenge wrapping my mind around the act of being a single mom, and homeschooling and now working on top of that. It’s only been a couple weeks, but so far so good.

Lil selfie from my second day with my new daily schedule.

So along with that newness, I’m still passionately pursuing my art, both paint and smart-phone

I don’t know…. it’s just my thing right now.  Floating that girlie of mine all over the place. It’s been fun to see what I can come up with next. Maybe a bit monotonous…. maybe it’s just a freeing thought imagining floating or free falling.

The latest WIP is on an old busted skateboard. I used a power tool and everything 💪

Several layers of gesso

Found a copyright free image and decided to play around with it a bit
I liked her face, her expression.
Yet again she just looked relaxed, like maybe she was dreaming of floating or free falling.

Close up
I have plans to add a little more here and there…. for now I like it.
My birthday is this weekend. This last year went by in a blur for me personally. Lots of cray cray ups and downs. I know it’s all happened for a reason.
I’m still very excited to see what else this next year of my life will bring

Be beautiful
Be you

Practice

I forgot that I know how to draw.
     

I feel like this Renewal thing is coming about in many forms, not just inside of me, but what I am capable of.
Dusting off the masses of paper and pencils I’ve had… since art school even…wow.
I know, I know! So random to choose a shot of Justin Timberlake. There are a couple of his songs that I just get. That get me. That’s not why I printed off the shot to practice with. His eyes in this shot are just… wow!

#wip

Be beautiful…be you

Sunrise Sunset

I have always loved photography, but have never had a real camera other than a Nikon Coolpix. I was never very confident in my photography taking skills either. When my older kids were younger,  I was simply trying to keep up with them and make sure they didn’t fall off the side of a castle while we lived in Europe.
As soon as we came stateside, I moved to Texas to live near my sis until my Husband finished up his year in Korea. I bought my first smartphone, and loved that “camera” in my pocket. I quickly found a few editing Apps, like Pixlr-o-matic and Picsaypro and PicsArt, all of which I used pretty heavily. Then Instagram became available to DROID users and a whole new world opened up to me with sharing my vision through a new to me art form, mobile artistry. Met some amazing people through that lil app.
For the most part I started out taking a million shots of my kiddos, of course. I didn’t get the chance to always capture that giant texas sky…

I was busy running and homeschooling and many other things, including getting back into my art.
When we moved to south GA, I was amazed by the sunrises and sunsets and became a wee bit obsessed with capturing what I could see over the tree-line right outside my front door…

Randomly one morninng, after a workout at the base gym, I decided to go to the little lake on base to capture the sunrise, and I’m glad I did…

That started a whole new sunrise/sunset obsession.
After two years of use, my smartphone just didn’t want to do anything for me anymore. That made me feel anxious. I needed it…I needed an artistic outlet, because at the time I still couldn’t paint, not for me the way I wanted to.
So I purchased a new phone. Samsung Galaxy S2. Amazing camera, really crisp beautiful shots were coming out of that phone, in comparison to my Droid X.

A few more apps became available to DROID users during this time, like Snapseed and Vscocam. These two apps have changed things up for me immensely.  I love how they sharpen and dramatically change the photos, and boosting those colors making them even more dramatic.
Recently I bought the new Samsung Galaxy S4, mainly because of the 13 mega pixel camera. It’s amazing and I’m truly loving the way the skies look through this lil camera.

The obsession continues
Blendingthecolors style
Because #droidrulesappledrools

~Be beautiful…. Be you

Nail art

I thought I’d join in… be a girlie girl. Get my nails done and share. Seems to be the newest craze. For some reason all the most popular pics on Instagram are shots of nail jobs. So in the hopes mine will get 1000′s of likes, and with no further ado, I present my latest nail job

Haha…ok.
Back to painting. Break time over.

Be beautiful…be You

Folk Art

I have been participating in an online workshop with one of my all-time favorite artists Msity Mawn. 12 weeks of just what the doctor ordered.
One of our assignments was Folk Art.

This clay creation was so fun and I’d like to do more. I was originally going for something else, but this little figure in a hood and cloak emerged.

Getting a helping hand whilst drying. :roll:
That head was heavy, and actually aided in creating most of the wrinkles in the cloak.

So Lil Red was born out of that lump of clay. I like her. She might not be totally traditional folk art, but she’s a cutie. Blendingthecolors style folk art.
I also made a lil pyrography piece. 

Still going with my peacock theme. This was so much fun to create. I forgot how much fun pyrography is. Found a wicked skilled artist on instagram whose style reminds me of street art and involves a lot fantasy.  He has created some amazing piecee with pyrography and just a little paint.
Anyway, I digress.  I also started out this folk art inspired piece…

I really liked the background, but there were things about that just bugged me. I needed to change it up somehow. It wasn’t speaking to me in any way. My eyes just kept looking at the purty background instead of taking the whole piece in. Here is how I’m progressing with the change up…

I like this lil guy much better. Still planning on a few tweaks, and cleaning it up a bit here and there. I added some iridescent ink to the bird itself, and the stars/snow that make up the background.
This may morph a little more, but the point is I’m having a blast exploring MY style and MY art again.

Be beautiful….be You

Self

I have issues. I mean….I am still working out some self confidence type things. I am trying to see me…with my own eyes. Or maybe the way God sees me.

Trying to see that way is probably impossible. I know God doesn’t want us to talk down to ourselves, belittle ourselves, doubt our gifts etc. He wants us to love ourselves, love what He made us into. His image. He created us. Are we like a WIP?

I think so. I feel that way. Like a piece of clay that was lovingly molded and shaped to be one thing. ..but it cracked and crumbled under the wrong hands. And now…now I want God to make me into something new.

Take this raw hunk of bits and pieces. .make it over. Make it again. Make it new.
I love and hate selfies. I love when people share the raw THEM. The real them. I hate bathroom selfies, or half necked selfies.
I want to see the real you…and I want see the real me. Raw…

I have a ways to go. I’ll get there. With God on my side, how can I go wrong?

Be beautiful. … be you

Renewal

It’s been awhile, but I’m back. I miss this. I’m no writer, but it still feels good to just ramble sometimes.
I have been through some things, some bad, good and ugly.
This may or may not be the place for the ugly, but if it is, it will be through art and photography. Through the healing process I’ve needed for a long time coming.

I’ve been working on me in many aspects. Mobile photography has been a quick easy fix for me this last couple years. No mess, no fuss. Just snap and edit.

Whether it’s a sunset sky, or an edit with other elements added in, it’s been an enjoyable process of learning apps, filters, and a lot of the same elements applied to painting.

This is my first new painting of the new year.
~Renewal~
It’s very special to me. I woke up one morning early in this brand new year and just needed to paint it out. It was painted over a little here and there, but I finally have it where I love it, after a months work. It has many meanings and a heck of a lot of symbology for me. More than any piece I’ve made before.
It means starting over, starting fresh, starting again with parts of the old me blending with the new me.

~photography~

I

I haven’t had much time to paint or work on many of the projects that I would like to, these days.  I am playing with photography and digital enhancements, and having a blast with it.   I may even get some quality prints made to add to my SHOP.  I have always wanted to get a program or camara, that would take or enhance pictures, BUT I’m a starving artist, SO when I found some free apps on my smartphone, I was happy.

*Happy New Year *

2012… we welcome you!

*Merry Christmas*