diy September 29, 2012

i have not been able to post anything for a while

because i am in the middle of a painting for my art class.

i do, however, have a couple of things i’d like to share.

they may not be fine art,

but i am a huge fan of diy (do it youself) projects!

i am constantly finding things,

mostly on pinterest,

to make my home and environment a better, more stylish place.

a few months ago i found out about chalkboard paint.

one of the coolest things ever made!

i found a way to combine chalkboard with another one of my favorite things:

mason jars!

and this is the result:

it was super easy.

just buy chalkboard paint from your local craft store,

tape off the area you want painted,

and then slap on a few layers.

now, because i bought a giant package of mason jars

i had to find things to do with them.

while surfin’ the web, i found the idea to make a mason jar soap dispenser.

with a little help from my handy boyfriend,

this is how it turned out!

with a little help from some flowers

my next diy project:

halloween mason jars!

crafts by amanda has a tutorial on how to do these.

another easy and cute project

for my favorite holiday!

i’ll post photos when i finish these.

on to the next one September 17, 2012

pinterest is an amazing thing!

i never thought i’d like it,

but it gives me inspiration,

and not just inspiration for art!

recently, i found a project to customize coasters.

i liked the idea so much that i decided i wanted to recreate it,

but not on ceramic coasters.

on plexiglass!

this is an image of the coaster

so imagine this,

or something like this,

on plexiglass,

hanging in your house!

i think it will look amazing once i get past how expensive it will be to start!

the finished product September 12, 2012

it was critique day in my painting class.

it felt like judgement day

standing up there vulnerable to everyone’s opinions.

after explaining my process and thoughts behind the work,

i was surprised to find that people actually liked my piece.

one student even said she loved it and wouldn’t change a thing!

that reassurance calmed my nerves.

i recall writing in my first post about this painting that i didn’t care whether people liked it or not.

that is true,

but it felt great knowing that someone liked something i felt so hesitant about.

suggestions were made,

mostly about how to display it

or even take the aggression of it a step further.

i’m not sure if i am totally done with it

or if i should keep painting or ripping at it.

what do you think?

(i promise i’ll get a better photo soon; it’s hard to see all of the colors & tones right now)

rodeo! September 8, 2012

my bad,

another post not totally related to art,

but i’ll connect it, don’t worry 🙂

last night i went to the lewiston roundup (rodeo)

with my boyfriend and a couple friends.

rodeo is something that i have not written about on this blog yet.

for those of you who know me, it should be a surprise.

since i was 10 years old i have breathed nothing but horses.

i bought my first horse at 15, had a second one by 17,

and now keep my mom’s horse at college with me.

i learned the ins and outs of barrel racing when i was 15

and fell in love with everything rodeo!

since i’ve been in college i have not raced.

i’m a poor college student afterall!

so going to the rodeo last night was bittersweet.

all throughout high school i was determined to go to a college to rodeo.

i could have,

but i was drawn to my university which recently lost its team.

i kept thinking,

i could be doing this right now!

but life isn’t far.

hopefully i can get back to racing once i graduate in may.

until then however,

i can surround myself with rodeo through art.

at the roundup there were multiple prca photographers

(photographers that work for the specific rodeo company).

i could do that!

if i somehow figure out how to afford all of the nice equipment…

so maybe i can’t be a pro photographer right away;

i can paint or draw though.

i remembered a piece that i made for my mom in high school.

it was a pastel drawing of a barrel racer.

nothing spectacular,

but it was fun.

i have not made rodeo art since then.

maybe now is the time to explore that avenue

and reconnect with something that i am so passionate about.

and because it’s gameday: GO COUGS!

inspiration gone September 7, 2012

what do you do when you have lost inspiration

for something you were so excited  to do?

today while i was in my painting class

i got stuck.

i lost all direction in what i wanted to originally paint.

i have been a perfectionist since i was born.

i have prided myself on creating beautiful pieces of art

that the majority like.

that part of my personality came to the forefront today.

i told myself that i was not happy with my painting

because it was not visually beautiful.

but that wasn’t what this painting was about!

it is so hard to leave that part of myself out of my art.

so after some time just staring at it,

i got the idea to use a squeegee.

i pretty much slathered paint on and started covering up my work.

i’m now hoping  that creating

a lot of layers with the squeegee

will produce something beautiful,

but still true to my original message.

today was not a therapeutic day of painting like i wished every day to be.

but now i know that is impossible.

Step 4

step 5

Step 6

paint in progress September 5, 2012

i’ve been working on my 6ft tall piece

for my painting class.

i’ll be honest,

i’m not very pleased with how it is looking,

but to me that is not the important thing.

even just the few hours i have spent on it

have been relaxing and

a time to think,

which i rarely get anymore.

so here are some photos of what has happened thus far.

i’ll be adding many more layers

and new ways of applying paint

(maybe even throwing balloons filled with paint at the canvas!).

sounds therapeutic to me!

1 color

3 colors

5 colors

sorry for the bad quality cell phone pics 🙂

photo trip September 3, 2012

yesterday my boyfriend and i

photographed in the neighboring towns

of colton and uniontown, wa.

i had an assignment for my photo class,

but i ended up taking pics unrelated…

oops.

we ended up at a cemetery,

one of my favorite places to photograph

(despite a thorn piercing through my shoe into my foot!)

because of the history,

the loss,

and the spookiness of it all at sunset!

we also found a couple of rustic,

beautiful barns

(i know barn photos are cliche to some, but i love them!).

here are a couple of the photos i took and one that nick took.

more to come.