2 Year Anniversary and a New Beginning!

   I can't believe I have passed my 2 year anniversary of being an Artist-In-Residence at Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo. Over the last 4 months I was involved in a "Studio Shuffle" which allowed me to move into a new and larger studio space in September!!! I took a leap of faith and requested a half-space when it became available (I had a quarter-space in D4). Now I am in A3! There was a lot of artists moving around among the newly opened spaces at SCIART. Originally I did not want the A3 space I currently have, but in the end I absolutely LOVE it and would not have my space in any other place. Yet the most important thing I want to explain is that this has all been a huge blessing from God. I have been trusting God to provide for me in my larger and more expensive studio. He has provided new commissions, drawing classes and students. He is the one I am trusting to teach me, guide me and provide for me.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28

Because I am now in my new space, I am trying to take a more proactive approach to everything I do in my studio to start building up a career. This includes daily time in my studio drawing, promotion and preparation for my drawing classes, updating my website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and now my blog regularly, at least once a week, and to prepare and send out my E-Newsletter, too. In a nutshell, I am learning to be disciplined and focused on my art and my career. Now, this is so much easier said than done. I have a bad habit of getting lazy when I am busy and tired, and I always seem to be busy and tired....  It is amazing how much I have learned about myself over the last 2 years of being an Artist in Residence. There is so much more to having an art career than I ever thought. However I am in a community of professional and successful artists at SCIART that have shown me it is possible and something I am capable of doing.

As I was thinking about what to write for this "new beginnings" blog, I remembered an interesting conversation I had with one of my high school drawing students recently. This quote came up in our conversation:

"Do or do not. There is no try."

Anyone know who that quote is from? If you guessed Yoda, from Star Wars, you are correct! This quote is pretty spot on for how I feel right now. I either need to do it or not do it, I can't just try. Trying indicates you are giving yourself room to fail. And I will not! I can DO this! Even though I know myself to have a history or "try until it gets hard and then stop" kind of attitude, I will persevere and keep moving forward no matter how many times I step off course.

One way I can inspire myself is to see how far I have come. Below are the three different studios I have had since 2010.

This is the studio that my parents let me have when I first moved back home from Humboldt State.

This was my studio in D4 at Studio Channel Islands Art Center. You can see the progression of this studio and how it changed over 2 years here.

Here is my new larger half room in A3!! I have sectioned my half of the room so that I can teach on one side and do my own drawings on the other. It is so nice having all of my drawing/art stuff in one location! 

Bookmarks

      A year has gone by since my first Holiday Market at SCIART and this year I decided my "small items" would be bookmarks! I drew out 9 different designs, copied them and pasted them onto colorful backgrounds. I sold them for $5 each and I was really happy with how well they sold! I plan on making at least one new bookmark design every month. Stay tuned for what's coming up!

Here are my original drawings and some of the final product bookmarks I have for sale.

SERIES 1: Old Master's Drawings
   This first series of drawings was each drawn from an old master's drawing. While in the UMass Boston Library I looked through about 20 masters drawing books and found images to draw from. The originals below are all of my drawings, but the references for them were taken from the old masters.

Here is what they look like with there backgrounds. One of the designs is not shown because they were very popular and I have to make more.

If you or someone you know are interested in purchasing some bookmarks, please email or message me and let me know. 

Gift Certificates

My Artists Brochure

Latest Completed Drawings

Simple Line Drawings

I needed to take a breaks from the projects and "mandatory" art I need to finish. So I found a couple of faces that I turned into simple line drawings. They are both 3.5"x5"on hot press watercolor paper.

Starting a New Routine and a New Direction

It has been some time since I have posted on my blog. However that is going to change. My life has taken a turn and I am very excited to let everyone know! Here is the story:

     At the beginning of 2013 my parents reminded me that I was going to be taken off of my dad's insurance in August when I turned 26. To prepare for this my parents suggested that I talk to my employer to figure out what steps I needed to take in order to have benefits starting in August. After talking with my employer I found out that I needed to be working full time for 6 months before I could start getting benefits. So in March I started working full time at 7C's (the child care center at my church). Everything was going smoothly. I got to work with toddlers in the morning and still hang out with the school age kids in the afternoon. About 2 weeks into my new work schedule I started coming home extra tired every day; which is understandable when you work with kids for 40 hours a week. At first this was not a problem, but soon I realized that I was too tired to work in my studio. Every time I tried to go to my studio after work, nothing ever got done and the pieces I did work on were frustrating and I usually messed something up. I also putting a lot of time into planning a mission to Romania with my church. That also took away time from my studio. But I am not upset about planning for Romania! That was an amazing mission that I hope to do again!
     To put it in perspective, over the last 6 months I have spent less than 30 days in my studio working on my drawings. This was not acceptable. I was basically paying for a nice storage space at my studio since I wasn't using it to draw. Not being able to create or feel the desire to draw was really disturbing. I was fed up! One of my goals in life is to support myself with my art; so not producing artwork was a problem. My solution? Work part-time!
     This is the part that I am most excited about! I am working part-time with a split shift. That means that I will work in the morning, have 3 hours of break, work again and then have the afternoon off. This schedule is great! I have designated my break in the morning for my "Studio Time". I will spend at least 15 hours a week in my studio working on projects that need to get finished. Doing that will give me room for the project I know are coming my way as well as give me time to work on pieces that I want to do. In one year I want to have a body of work that represents what I can do. I have never been able to have daily time drawing. I am a little nervous that I wont be able to stay consistent, but I will do my best. I am truly excited to see what I am capable of and what I will be able to accomplish with the amount of time I have dedicated to my artwork.
     Another exciting opportunity I have been given is a book deal. An author from a local community college came into my studio and asked me if I would illustrate for the book he is writing! I jumped at the chance! I never would have thought that I would be asked to do illustrate for a book!! Both the author and I are still in the early planning stages, so I will have more information on this subject in another post soon.
   
    So there it is! My "New Routine and New Direction".  I am very hopeful. I am working on coming up with short-term and long-term goals for my artwork, development and growth of my drawings, possible teaching opportunities and much more. This is a time of accelerated growth for me in terms of my art and my growth as a child of God. I have a lot going on at my church as well that all ties in to my art and my abilities as an artist within a church congregation. God gave me this gift and I am finally ready to start using it for His glory! This will be tough, but I have all the confidence that I will be able to do it with God's help and guidance. So many things can happen in a year! Let's get started!!