Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Return of Artist Me

I've been doing artwork of one type or another my whole life. Started off drawing, mostly pencil and charcoal, particularly in high school:

This one an annual art contest at my high school.

For years after that, I pulled back from drawing and focused on more craftsy things. Scrapbooking. Painting plaster figurines. Using my art skills to make custom cornices for my windows and to re-purpose items to be used around my house. All artsy, all creative, but not the "real" art I'd aspired to when I was younger.

A few years ago, after I started my writing journey, I did spend some time drawing again. Mostly beetles like this:



And things like this Elf Girl:


I draw off and on in spurts, but haven't really *done* anything with these works. Got a couple in small press magazines and books, but I haven't pursued trying to sell my work, other than in pendant form:



A few months ago, though, that shifted. I visited a friend's house where I got to play around with some of her mixed media stuff. It was great fun, and I immediately went out and bought some canvases, paint, and a few new brushes. I started playing around, and pretty soon I had some mixed media art of my own:

One of my very first pieces

Having fun with steampunk effects

For Halloween - This one sold at a local art show!

The image directly above included some actual hand-painted feathers, as opposed to just background painting and layering techniques I used in the previous pieces. 

Which got me in the mood to do some actual painting:


That Sun Dream-catcher has been in my head for months. I think it took me tackling the other works to give me the confidence to finally paint it.

And then...



And fairies....


And it hasn't stopped yet. I find myself thinking all day about what piece to do next, looking for inspiration everywhere, and shopping for more supplies :).

It has all culminated so far in having my very first table at an Art Show!


You can see that I have quite a bit done now. Still making pendants, too. And wands! (Which I'm pretty sure I've posted about before.) My books are on the table, too, of course -- writing is still my passion! I've got to figure out how to balance the two, as right now I'm on a massive art streak, but writing will not be going away.

So, this has been my life lately -- the return of Artist Me in full force. I'm looking forward to more art shows, and over the next few weeks I'll be working on putting up an Etsy store so I can sell everything online as well. I promise to keep you posted!