Y'know how on the interwebs you follow one link, which leads you to something else and before you know it you're reading someone's website or blog with little recall on how you actually got there? Well that's how I discovered Jane Davies. I landed on her website, fell in love with her work and almost immediately bought one of her online downloadable classes, Extreme Composition.
Background: In January 2016, I started an online class b Katie Kendrick. Part of our assignment was to paint, intuitively on a large canvas. Enter the Big Painting. Serendipitously, the size suggested fit EXACTLY a canvas I had MacGyvered together some 10 years ago. As the course progressed, and the painting became a glimpse into my current headspace, I wondered what would happen if I painted on this one canvas for the rest of my life. This is the visual progression of that one painting.
You know when you've been searching for something only you didn't know what you were actually looking for? This is one of those.
One of my 2016 resolutions, more a goal I guess, was to "make art work for
me".
Yah. I don't know what that means either.
It was of the "get more
exposure, become a real artist and make some money" line of thinking.
Along with putting in my studio time, I've also been researching what exactly that entails. Most of it reminds me all too well of what I hated about being in the web design biz. And why Tom was in charge of peopling.
My eyes glaze over after reading #1 of 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog or 20 Tips That'll Make Your Blog Work or 7 Steps to Launching Your Next Big Project. I've attempted to listen to Podcasts — Artists Helping Artists, Magic Lessons, Savvy Painter, Gretchen Rubin anything. I even attended a "webinar" (oh! kill me NOW!) by the perky, punkgirl Kimra.
In every case, I get aggravated to the point that I frantically have to find and click STOP!! How am I supposed to increase my exposure if I can't even stay on track long enough to find out how to increase my exposure?!? I'm down to the lowest of common denominators — attempt to write here a few times a week, put out a semi-consistent newsletter and post to my FB page.
And with all The Crazy breaking out every day, Facebook has become a minefield of side-stepping Pro-Trump crap and Anti-Trump crap and global warming arguments and climate change arguments, nutrition arguments and simple living arguments. Lord love a duck, even cute puppies and kittens have gone over the top. (chihuahuas and muffins WTF?!?)
I can't take it.
Everything is
making me angry.
I've officially become a curmudgeon.
As I've been working on these little Oka box plaster'n'wax thingies (Technical Term!) I thought it might be fun to show a before during and after and discuss the process.