First finished Drawing Board piece.

Today I mark one of the old paintings off the list.  This piece, titled "Twilight Sweet Peas" has been an image I have wanted to create for several years.  The tiny pink sweet peas that pop up all over Southern Oregon in late spring always bring a smile.  These peas were photographed late one evening while on a walk around the neighborhood.  Enjoy!

"Twilight Sweet Peas" © 2012 Maranda Schemanski.  All Rights Reserved.

Happy painting!

The First Batch of The Drawing Board

What I'm posting today is the first batch of unfinished paintings on the drawing board.  Each one of the paintings today I created at a spark of inspiration.  These are not planned out, drawn out, or in any other way thought through.  These are the kinds of images that get me into trouble.  What I'm hoping to decide with each of these is 1) are they laid out correctly?  2) is the composition strong?  3) do I still have the creative spark strong enough to finish it?

This is an image from my trips to Wildlife Images in Grants Pass, Oregon.  This is a bard owl named Opal.  what I was going for in this image was an owl possibly hunting in the twilight of the evening.  So far, I like this one, and I think I'll be continuing to work on it.  (Plus my sister said I have to, so there you go.)

This is another image from a Wildlife Images animal - Clark the Cougar.  This piece, I believe, is too flawed anatomically that this one will be recycled.

I'm not entirely sure what inspired this one, but it's cute... so I plan on finishing.

Here is a sporadically inspired city painting, which is never a good idea.  All buildings and straight line NEED TO BE PLANNED AHEAD!!  That being said, I'll try to finish this one.

Here's a fun one.  Inspired by the antics of my son.  This painting, however, has been giving me fits since I started it a couple years ago.  Yet for some reason, I am compelled to finish.

Nude in a garden.  I've been requested to finish this one as well, so there you go.

Another one of my son.  He's throwing a rock onto a little creek.  I don't know about this one.  I think I'll set it towards the back of the pile and think about it later.

There is the start to the paintings I've found laying around the studio.  But don't worry.. there are many more.

Until next time!  Happy painting!

Resolutions of a Creative Mind.

Today I'm going to cover the irritating topic of New Year's Resolutions.  Those pesky promises to yourself that have a general tendency to go in one month and out the other.  I know the popular ideas for resolutions are "eat healthier" or "exercise more" or "work smarter not harder".  Well this year I've decided to take this challenge from a slightly different angle.  What I see as a problem for resolutions is they are just a band-aid.  A band-aid over habits we've spent years forming.  I'd say it's time to form some new habit and less "oops I fell off the wagons."

I've also decided that the tired old fitness and health resolution isn't my thing.  Yes, I will work everyday to make healthy choices, but that's not what I want my (failed) resolution to be.  This year, I've decided to take a look at my art and resolve to make it front and center in life.  To make it something I actively do, instead of passively ponder.

This, however, is too vague a concept to hit the ground running with.  What I need are specific goals I can reach, and that can build on one another to reach a big goal.  No, not a big goal, a DREAM!

I'll start out with listing a few goals I know I have:

• Create at least 2 new paintings a month. (Thus building a body of work in which to share in shows.)
• Create actual income using my art and artistic skills. (Enough so that I can consider "art" as my job)
• Inspire others to appreciate art (not just art, but understand art)
• Create a network of like-minded artists to share ideas with, and to inspire one another.
• Inspire others to take up a passion for art.
• Learn how to teach art and figure out how to offer classes online.

With a few goals in mind (and I'll be updating this list on a regular basis) I need to find a starting point.  At first I struggled with this.  Then it became so obvious.  What does each artist start their masterpiece with?  A blank canvas of course.  I looked around my creative space only to see a big mess.  Papers everywhere, photos unorganized, drawings in paper pads on shelves, and ideas started on all sizes of canvases.

This won't do.

I painted my walls a pretty shade of lavender, hung up a wire to clip drawings and ideas to and gathered up everything started, but not finished.  My first goal is clear.  CLEAN OFF THAT DRAWING BOARD!  I can't bring any new ideas to the party until I clean out the old clutter.  So for the month of February, I'm taking a look at each "old" piece (some are not actually that old, while others are very old) and decided to keep and finish, or I'm over it and reuse the canvas.

I also need to structure art time so it's not so sporadic and it gets done.  I know everyday is a bit of a stretch for me, and I'll quickly fail, so I'm going to paint at least three times a week.  (Which is open to increasing!)  I'm going to treat my art like a job, and take it seriously!

See you next time with something finished and off the drawing board!