As usual, it’s been awhile…

Typical Jenn. I always forget how long it’s been since I last wrote. I’m surprised by the amount of time that has passed. I shouldn’t be, though. Things happen, life happens, etc…

I’ve been working on boxes for the past couple of weeks. Little decorative boxes that I paint and sculpt embellishments for. I’ll post pics at some point.

For the past 30 minutes, though, I’ve been going through files on my computer. Specifically old artwork and photographs. I’ve been sorting through the past several years of my life wondering where I would be now, artistically, had I been able to keep my shit together.

Life happens.

I have prints of my ocean photographs on Fine Art America that I occasionally sell. I found the folder containing them and I wanted to share one of my favorite ones. It’s not the most colorful or interesting, but it makes me feel the most. It’s not anyone’s favorite, but mine. I call it “Pull” because that’s what’s happening. I was standing in the water at Topsail Island in North Carolina and the waves pulled back, my feet sinking into the sand. It made me dizzy, yet it grounded me. I love that feeling. I look forward to going back.

I’ll write again soon.

Back to work…

Every year (or multiple times per year) I decide it’s a great idea to revamp my life. By that I mean my work and all that’s related. Perhaps it’s not the wisest decision, but refreshers are good, especially for a mind becoming stagnant.

Four pieces were completed at the beginning of January for a play. As soon as they were done and shipped out, I paused to look around my studio and realized that it had become horribly chaotic. Paint tubes scattered, tiny shreds of paper, dirty brushes, not one surface was bare, including the floor. I did what I could, which was to walk away from it for a bit over a week. It was not a relaxing time because all I could think about was getting that area in order so I could get back to work. I had been so focused on those four pieces that when they were done, I felt lost.

I finally forced myself to clean (pics to come). I’ve found that even with this clear space, my brain isn’t working the way it needs to. The empty space is in my head, not in my studio. I’m uninspired!

While I continue to draw and paint, I figured I would update this blog and post a pic of one of the paintings. If you have thoughts, inspiration, motivation, anything, tell me. Share your brains.

Unrequited | 8″ x 11″ | acrylic on canvas

If you would just stop touching it…

“You” being “me” and “it” being my blog (and me…depending). I turned 32 the other day (July 2nd) and I still haven’t learned that things will be less irritating if I leave them alone. This goes along the lines of “things become complicated when you forget about their simple, individual parts” or “…the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it”.

As I wrote in my last post from June-freaking-13th (nearly a month ago!), I created a self-hosted WP blog at a subdirectory at ItDoesArt.com and was trying to decide if I was going to keep this one and that one, or ditch this one, blah blah blah. Overcomplicated. Just…overcomplicated. I like this blog. I like you guys/gals that subscribe to it, and comment and what not. That other one was far too much of a pain in the ass for what I wanted it to be. Which was (get ready) a BLOG. It was slow. Posting to it was a nightmare. Really, there wasn’t any major benefit considering… I get why people do the whole self-hosted thing and it makes total sense for them. For me…not so much.

So, like most things I repeatedly attempt/redo/reorganize/overthink, I’m simply going to use this lovely one and nothing more. The rest is unnecessary. My site is still accessible from this blog, just as this blog is still accessible from my site. It’s just much faster and less complicated.

As I’ve been writing this, fireworks are being set off outside and it’s really pulling my attention away. I’m going to go hunt them down (I’m not sure which direction they’re in and the trees block most views) and admire them. Happy 4th.

Site, meet blog…

A gentle heads up for those of you that get to my blog via www.ItDoesArt.com: eventually you will be redirected to my site. I trashed it months ago – what’s the point of paying hosting when nothing is being hosted, yeah? My plan is to have the site up by the middle of this month. Woohoo! Of course, like the last one, there will be a gallery page so all the horror that spills out of my hands can be viewed at one time. Like a severely inappropriate picture book!

The idea of 365 days…

Obviously NOT my idea… I don’t know how many days I would have shoved into one year if I was in charge of that project, but I wasn’t. Maybe 5? Be really REALLY old and still look totally kick-ass? Yes, thank you.

Moving on to more sensible things, the idea of doing something everyday of the year – 365 days – intrigues me and makes me slightly ill. I’m not talking about showering or sleeping or eating the food. I mean doing what I have seen so many others accomplish – make a blog post every.single.day. Yikes.

I admire those that can do it. I even admire those that try. I like the idea of doing it, but, as I am with many things, the fear of failing is so, so great. So I haven’t even attempted. I think I might, though. I would like to try.

Aside from my fear and the many ways it manifests itself (and there are many), my other problem with not always accomplishing things is my horrible memory. If I connect a day of the week with a topic, then I think my chances of actually succeeding at posting something every day are a bit better than if I just tried to wing it.

This is why I like Illustration Friday. It’s on a Friday! So on Fridays, I get to have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to illustrate (even though, as you know, I don’t always actually do that…). Since I’m slightly more determined than not to give this a go, I have Friday checked off. Now I just need Monday – Thursday and then Saturday and Sunday.

I’ve noticed that people that post every day of the year sometimes don’t even write anything. They just slap a picture up on their blog…I like that idea! I don’t like it, though, if it doesn’t make sense. I suppose that would be okay, though, yeah? Nonsense is sometimes the best sense. Certainly can be the most fun!

Tonight I am going to figure out themes/topics for the rest of the days of the week and I’m making tomorrow (Saturday 24th of March) my start day. I might not make it to 365 days, but I am going to try to do one whole week! *weak laugh * HA! My air just sputtered out of my balloon, but that’s okay because I can use my airless balloon as a slingshot. Yes.

Tell me if you have ideas for the other days of the week! Like…Macabre Monday (that actually appeals to me now that I typed it out…) or something easy to remember!

A thank you post…

Those that know me know that I can get really mushy sometimes and the level of mush depends on the circumstances and how I’m feeling. People that aren’t familiar with me either think that I’m being “sweet” or that I’m being disingenuous (those that think this tend to be the most cynical about everything) or a sort of sycophant. When it comes time for me to offer a thank you, I tend to get nervous because of the very reasons I mentioned.

There is this feeling inside my torso that I get when I’m really, really grateful for something (this happens a lot). If I don’t acknowledge it, the feeling builds and that’s where the level of mushiness really comes into play. If I let it build too much, I become this sobbing blob of fat that blubbers about how wonderful this or that is (this really happens) and it actually becomes physically painful…like I want to explode and allow rainbows and glitter to shoot out of my disintegrating viscera…or something equally exciting. Rather than that awesomeness happening, I just cry REALLY hard for a few minutes, and then I’m over it and can get on with making horrific drawings or ridiculous cartoons.

SO, now that all of you are aware of these truly embarrassing things about me (things I don’t share, mind you) I want to say:

THANK YOU FOR READING!

I think it’s terrific that people read this blog (for whatever reason) and like it enough to “Like” it and even follow! I’m grateful for that. So, thank you!

I also think it’s neat that the people who Like/follow the blog are so similar to one another – we all seem to share the same sense of humor/writing style/interest in art/etc… So, of course, if you spot a fellow Liker on a post, click on them and see what their deal is if you don’t already do that! It’s almost like watching a video on YouTube and then continually clicking on the suggested videos until you end up in an unknown land that may or may not traumatize you. Almost.

Illustration Friday: “Separated”

It is Wednesday and in 2 days a new theme will be given on Illustration Friday, but I ‘na care…I wanted to do one right now so I did.

I LOVE MS PAINT! I do. It has been a favorite of mine since high school “supposed-to-be-working-but-goofing-off-instead” time. And when I’m sleepy or just need to move my hands without much thought, this type of drawing appears. Paint, colored pencil, marker, and now in MS Paint. Naked lady with blocks of color separating her. Apparently I enjoy that sort of thing.

Here it be, yo.

Illustration Friday’s “Vanity”

Before drawing this I wanted to doodle a bit to prepare for whipping out “Vanity”.  That’s what I told myself anyway.  I spent over an hour working on some eye as “preparation” and completely forgot about I.F.  Hand tired, back and neck cramped and on fire I scratched this thing out.

A chick.  A pile of bodies.  A hand mirror.  What else could anyone ask for?

This is a face…

This is only a face…  I’m terribly uninspired so I doodled a face with watercolor pencils in hopes that it would kick-start me.

Sensible blathering…

So, the whole purpose of this blog is to make myself get off my keister and keep being creative. I sometimes forget that one creative thing I enjoy doing is writing. One of the many things I wanted to be as a child was a writer! I loved it and still do. Lately, though, I have shoved it aside and focused more on the idea of making artwork (I would say doing artwork, but I haven’t been doing much these past couple weeks) and beating myself up for procrastinating.

Writing certainly makes my head work and when my head is working, ideas always come to me – including ideas for visual works. So…I’m writing. I had thought about making yet another blog strictly for “Sensible Blathering” but, honestly, I have too many blogs. Way too many. Since I’ve been using “It Does Art”, I haven’t posted to the others, so there is no point in creating another one that will eventually be neglected. I’ll just blather here because it’s tied to being creative!

A little known fact about me: I have started writing 3 books in my life. One was started when I was still in high school and the other two were started in my early 20s. Note I said started instead of completed. Yes…procrastinator. I like the idea of going back to them, but out of the 3, 2 will not be picked up where I left off because I’m not the same as I was then. However, I can still take the ideas and form them around who I am now and the similar messages I want to convey. I think about them often and I think about how much motivation I had when I started them and how I just became overwhelmed with life in general, not the writing. I think about how I am now and there are still aspects of me that haven’t changed much – the main one being my attention span and how frustratingly short it is. It’s something I work on and as long as I’m doing something to keep my head working in a creative manner, I’m okay with it.

I keep reminding myself that there really isn’t anything I’m incapable of doing. That includes finishing books, creating serious/ridiculous artwork, or even going outside when I’m just too afraid. It’s the same for you. Not a “if you dream it, you can do it” message – more of a “break things down into their simplest forms so you can see how non-complicated things can be”.

I want to make a candle holder out of paper-mache/papier-mache – I realize this would be along the lines of ridiculous artwork. Woohoo fire!