Purging and Painting

I seem to not be so good at doing much on a regular basis these days. Hopefully, unemployment will be one of those things. Yes, it has been 8 months, officially, this time around. Last time it was a week shy of a year, so I really hope to not get that far. I find myself increasingly more stressed and frustrated at my situation, and looking for ways to get out of this rut, you know, use some of that good old American ingenuity. One thing I am doing is going through my countless DVDs and CDs and picking out ones I can live without. Seeing as I am 99.999% digital these days, and most of what I watch and listen to is on my back up drive, I can live without most of them. So, I am peddling and pandering to anyone who will listen. If I figure out how to sell directly through my blog, I will do so. Until then, I started the ball rolling with a friend, and I am selling some of my DVDs through an online service. A few of my DVDs will get a decent amount of money, so for those, I am using that option. When I got rid of all of my CD jewel cases, I didn't keep the back cover, you know the one with the UPC code. So, without a UPC, I cannot sell to those convenient online places. I will have to take my chances with person to person sales or eBay.

In addition to decluttering my media collection, I am looking into what kinds of goods I can have made with my photos and designs. I am thinking about opening an Etsy store. There's so much stuff there, I will have to learn how to market. I also need to figure out specifics, so I can make a business plan and go on Kickstarter to try to raise my start up costs. I obviously do not have the money to take any risks with.  I will be working on reworking some of my more popular journal pages on flat paper, so I can scan them into Photoshop Elements and tweak to my liking as digital images that can be put on t-shirts, fabrics, papers, cards, keychains, calendars, etc.  If anyone has feedback regarding this and what kinds of products you would like to see, please look at photos from past posts and leave a comment.

About my work, it is obvious by looking at my past work, I like simple graphics with bold color and line. I definitely do that best, but I am also interested in growing my skills. I am not a great painter or drawer, hence my style. I have been largely self taught, outside of one high school painting class and one community college class in drawing. I have several weak points which I would like to strengthen. One is painting dimensional faces, and dimensional anything, for that matter. I am not striving for realism. As I have heard many artists say, "If I wanted realistic, I would take a picture. " This is my first experiment in painting a face in a dimensional manner.

Keep this girl away from the cheap self-tanner! Seriously, this was my first attempt. She looks okay, but very streaky.

This photo is blurry, but you ca see the improvement a few more layers made. I am very proud of her nose. I think it turned out quite nice.

My little stylized goth girl. She looks cute, but she could definitely use more layers of paint.

Through this initial round of attempts I learned the following:

• There is a reason so many mixed media artists use watersoluble crayons and pencils with gesso to create face. It would take far less effort for a good effect.
• Painting dimension in acrylics is kind of fussy. Watching people paint online, it seems like a simple process. Just swipe paint on and blend a bit. Maybe some people are that good, but for me, the top and bottom images are one layer. The one in the middle had two layers, then I gave up and gessoed over it all. Then, I created two more layers. I am beginning to think two layers is the minimum. I may change my mind as I learn.
• I have great respect for people who can paint fine lines with a brush. I just cannot. Too much coffee? Not enough coffee? Whatever the reason, I cannot seem to get a crisp clean line with a brush. I have even practiced by painting designs and thinning the paint so it flows more smoothly, but I am not there yet. Than God for technical pens and gelly roll pens. 
• I think I can get good at this. I know I can create unique faces by drawing, so I have a good base for painting. These are my first two paintings, and they look decent. It gives me a lot of encouragement. 
• I am not one of those people who puts faces and quotes on every journal page, nor do I really want to be. It just isn't my style and I feel it is being done to death. Even so, I like to know I can have options on what to draw and paint, another tool in my arsenal.

The goth girl and the other faces I drew earlier in the year have been glued into the pages of a couple of the signatures from that book I made from paper grocery bags. You can see the type of the bag in the goth girl painting, which I am not fond of, but I am not changing. The rest of the pages with type will be treated differently. I am hoping that I will be a pro by the time I finish that last face. I think that book will end up being the book where I practice new things. Of course, I do that in my other journals, but this will be intentional. I have a spread in another book I have designated for practicing painting spheres. Slowly, but surely, I am bringing myself around to more serious work, as serious as art work can be, that is.  It has taken a few months, but I am finally feeling the confidence to put in some time. If only my body would cooperate with me!