Projects

Okay, so today I'm going today I'm going to talk about some projects I am working on. A little back story is first needed. So...

I have 13 different projects listed that I need to get done. Some are small and can be finished in one sitting while others are much larger and will take months, or even years to finish. Of these 13 projects I have 7 of them already in some stage of work. There's a lot to be done, and relocating (a 14th project coming up) doesn't make it any easier.

However, some of my projects can be streamlined a little so that I can continue working on them, and working on said projects will actually help with the moving process. The first of the projects is consolidating writing articles from a rather large stack of magazines into a writing binder. I've already gotten through a few of them, and once I finish this I will no longer have a tower of paper threatening to topple over every time I move my feet wrong.

The second project is one I've been working on for years. I say years because I've been saving up old/holey pieces of clothing that I liked and am making them all into patches for a quilt. I have wanted to make a quilt out of my (and some of my sister's) things since I was a child. We're talking 7 years old. However, when I was young my mom accidentally gave my bag of old clothes away. I was... rather distraught about that, and for a long time didn't try collecting any more for fear of the same thing happening. Around the time I was 18 or so I decided to start anew. Since that time I have amassed a fair amount of clothing which has periodically been made into patches. I'm hoping that soon enough I will have enough to make my quilt.

The patches won't all be similar. They are various colors, cloth type, and whatnot. They are all, however, roughly the same size (7 1/2" x 7 1/2"). Once I have enough I'll sew them all together, after learning how to use a sewing machine mind you, and then I'll have a nice quilt! It will look kind of like the below only waaaaay cooler.

The third project I've only started recently. It is similar to my quilt idea only it won't take as long. I have plans to also make a patchwork scarf. Those squares are 3 x 3  and unlike the quilt will have some repeating square types. I imagine it will look something like this:

Again, only way cooler. Not sure if I'll have fringe on the ends or not, but we'll see. I'm almost done with the bag of old clothes/stuff I have. I only have 5 or 6 more pieces to go through. So in 2 days I should no longer have a big, bulky bag and instead have a neat, little box ready to move to the next place.

I won't worry about sewing until after the move. I probably will need some more pieces of fabric anyway. On that note I need to remember to take another look at my sister's fabric stash. She might have something I'd like to use. Hmm...

Well until next time!

^-^

It Isn't Nice

It isn't nice to belittle people.

It isn't nice to make someone feel like crap.

It isn't nice to dismiss someone.

It isn't nice to make people feel stupid.

It isn't nice to say "come to me with things" 

only to later on turn away and scoff.

It isn't nice; not at all.

It's things like this that make people averse to telling you things.

It's things like this that make people think you care only about your own stuff.

It's things like this that separate you, and close you off from others.

And then you wonder why nobody lets you in.

You hurt people.

You say your sorry (sometimes), 

but then you go back and do it again.

And again.

And again.

You want people to like you?

You want people to care?

The first step to getting those things

is to first be willing to change.

Then you must actively try to change,

to seek out ways to be good to others.

Because if you keep up this behavior

you'll wind up very lonesome,

and have no one else to blame

but yourself.

Residence Relocation

I've got big news from London! Big news!

Okay, not really from London, but I do have news. Can anyone name that quote by the way? *cough* Anyway, we had an interview the other day about a house.

not an accurate picture

It's a very nice house, with a lot more room than our current one. It has a ginormous backyard, around 4 1/2 acres, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and f course the other standard rooms you usually get plus 2 more. It's really nice and so we decided to try our luck at being the next tenants. It took a lot of time, and paperwork, but we secured an interview with the landlord. It went really well, and it looks like we've got ourselves a new house! Hurry! Doot do do dooo! That's a triumph noise for those of you who don't know.

So yeah, we'll be moving. It'll be interesting as the house is in an area we've never lived in before. We'll (my sister and I) be in upstairs rooms again, though they're a tad different as this time our walls are slanted. Hopefully that won't hinder us too much, though I know it means I won't be able to hang up my artwork anymore. Hopefully I'll be allowed to display it in other areas of the house.

So yeah, some lifestyle changes will have to happen, but I believe it'll be for the best in the long run. We're hoping to make the switch from old house to new come March 1st, but we'll have to see whether or not that's feasible. In any case I need to start taking a look at the things I have and getting rid of any of it that I don't want to haul to the next place. Eh... I'll do that later.

Well that's all for now. Wish me luck!

Common Mistakes with Painting

Today I'm going to talk a little about common mistakes while painting. These aren't some top five I found in some article or anything, but are ones that I find myself on the wrong end of. Maybe you do some of these too. Who knows? Let's find out together shall we?

1. Impatience

This one is pretty obvious. When you get impatient about wanting something to be finished then you don't produce your best work. You end up pushing the paint around instead of actually finishing, and that my friend leads to mistakes.

2. No Clear Vision

Now this one isn't always a bad thing. Some of my neatest paintings have come from just rolling up my sleeves and diving in without any idea of what I want. However this way of working can easily backfire, and you end up with more of a mess than anything else. 

It's especially dangerous if you have an idea of what you want to do, but no idea how you want to go about doing it. I had this problem recently. I wanted to do one particular type of landscape, but dove in first without an idea of how to proceed. It was only after I'd started that I looked at reference pictures and as a result had to redo some of my work. It was a downward spiral from there, and I ended up scraping the project instead of wasting more paint on something I couldn't save.

3. Over Correcting

This one I know is common among most artists. It's when you see something you don't like, and so you correct it. Only then you see another thing. And another. And another. Soon your painting has changed so much you no longer like it. You can also correct so much that in your correcting you make a blunder.

I did the latter of the scenarios once while doing an intuitive painting. It was really gorgeous, but had a couple of white spots. In trying to correct the white spots I completely messed up the flow of the painting to the point where it couldn't be salvaged.

4. Not Letting Things Be

There comes a point in painting where you need to walk away. It could be you've spent too much time looking at the darn thing and you're starting to go cross-eyed, it could be you don't know where to go from where you are and are feeling hopeless, or perhaps it feels like it might be finished, but you aren't sure.

When you become unsure it's best to take a breather and walk away. Sometimes that's all you need. Sometimes you need more time. What you're hoping to achieve is a different state of mind. A fresh outlook. If you don't do this and just stare at the canvas you won't get anything done, or worse you make a mistake that messes it up. The same thing is the case for something that's finished, but you're unsure about it. If you don't sit on it you can end up having to redo the whole thing.

5. Not Trusting Yourself

This is a big one. Ultimately, with anything in life, you must trust yourself. If you aren't able to listen to that part of you that tells you it's enough, to do something this way instead of another, or to not put the paintbrush in your mouth then you end up with a lot of problems. You must have confidence, at least a little, or you'll never get anything done. What's more, when you have finished you'll be easily swayed by the comments and criticisms of others.

So these are my top five issues I have while painting. They don't always come out, but when they do it's super annoying! However, if I just chill a bit, relax, breathe, and then re-access the situation usually I can get through whatever the problem is. So if any of you suffer from these issues make sure you try to do the same.

I wish you luck in all of your creative endeavors.

^-^

Why With The Annoying Things!?

Arrrrrrggghh!

That is how I am currently feeling. Why, you ask? Why indeed! Well, there's only the little issue of one of our cats getting a little friendly with my blankets again. Nothing new really. Although this time it was because I left a hoodie on my blankets that I had on when visiting my sister's place. They have an unfixed cat there. So yeah... big whoopsie on my part.

Still, this isn't the first time he's done this, or even the second time. He done it four times (that I remember anyway) to my things, and at least once to his owner's. These are at random times, and are usually far apart, but the last time he did this was last week. Last week! Gah! And he did it around the same time too, as in right before I was going to go to bed. 

After I went to put my things in the wash he started to follow me, giving me this "are you still mad at me" look. It was pathetic and clearly a ploy to get back into my good graces. It did not work. Instead I sent him to his mother's room to stay in for the time being. He was less than pleased.

So now I'm here typing this, and waiting for my linens to finishing washing. Then I'll put them in the dryer and wait some more. *SHAKES FIST*

Poetry and Other Things

 

Shards of frozen glass

Clinging to the evergreens.

Nature’s ornaments.

This was a poem I submitted for a haiku poetry contest on a site I frequent. There were several entries with 3 categories you could enter, and each category has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. This poem was entered under the "Winter" category, which ended up being the most entered category. I didn't have much confidence that it would win.

It did.

Not only did it win, but it won first place! I was so excited about it. Even though I didn't win anything other than fake money, it was still nice. I felt validated in some way, my talent acknowledged.

This is something every artist struggles with. The wish of being seen as talented. The hard part about this issue is that you're usually the one who is your biggest critic, your biggest obstacle. I know, at least in my experience, that if I didn't get in my own way so much I could do so much more. I just need to stop tripping myself up.

I think this is true of all people, no matter what you're doing or where you come from. We all just need to give ourselves a break and see our strengths for what they are. 

To learn to celebrate the wonders that can be if we just believe.

It's a New Year!

So it's a new year. 2014. What are your plans?

 

As we look into the new year one of the things my younger sister likes to do is get and read us our astrology forecast for the year (it's actually a little longer than a year, but close enough). This year is supposed to be year of growing for me. Yeah, I know that's a common theme in astrology, however it was far more prominent a theme then the normal vague things. It was a very nice sounding year, however as I'm sure all of you know change can be a little tough sometimes, especially if you have a normal disposition where you tend to neglect yourself (with it usually not being a conscious thought). So I may have a few bumps and bruises throughout this year, but it should be worth it.

 

My mom and two sisters have slightly worse sounding forecasts. For one thing theirs had actual "Hey you should be careful around this time" parts whereas I had none. My mother's had two, one financial and one health, and my sisters (who both have the same astrology forecast) have a similar one, though theirs focuses on the health part more than the money. Good news is for all the health issues should be cleared up, and as long as they are on top of their finances they should be fine.

 

Astrology aside, I really hope that this year is a productive one. Not only would I like to find myself and my family moved into a better home, but I also hope that other areas of our lives stabilize a bit more as well. Both my younger sister and I want to get to a place where we actually have income coming in for ourselves. Whether this happens from being able to procure a part time job, or finally being able to start up our Etsy business, or both (preferably both)- any of those options would be awesome.

 

We both would also like to be more comfortable driving. I already have a license, but have a bit of a driving phobia, and my sister has yet to get enough training to go take the test. I really hope that by year's end I'll be able to drive to the store without feeling like I'm going to die or throw up.

 

Another thing I'd like to do is meet new people and try new things. Progressively throughout the past few years I've been slowly coming out of my shell. Being homeschooled left me with a bit of a shyness problem, and an aversion to such things, but with a bit of effort I've been able to make new friends and do some things I hadn't thought I'd get to experience for a while yet. I hope to continue this trend, and with it gain more social confidence.

 

I'd like more confidence in general thank you very much, but I can be patient. I know that all of what I hope to accomplish takes time, but with any luck my wishes will come to fruition. I just need to keep trucking along, make myself lists, and goals, and keep myself on track. If I do that then I should be fine.

 

So what are your goals/wishes/dreams/lamas for this year? Let me know in the comments.

 

Happy 2014 everybody!