ever since the beginning to keep the world spinning

The last few weeks have been a blur... saying I work harder and longer since becoming self-employed is more of an understatement than ever before. My days start when the sun (and occasionally jackhammers on our street.. ugh) wakes me up and ends around 2 or 3am when all emails are replied to, all artwork orders are packed and ready to be walked up to the post office, all paint is cleaned up and everything else is checked and reordered and planned and done. It's exhausting but in a really good way... I can't imagine a more perfect use of my energy right now.

Outside of commissioned work, I haven't been painting as much as usual but I've been stoking the creative fires in my head often. I plan on taking a short break from painting after Christmas to create with some other materials and thoughts I've been collecting and dreaming about recently.

Things that have been inspiring me right now...

 

Self Portrait by Regina Pagles.. no explanation needed.

Still feeling that wanderlust I couldn't satisfy last summer.

Star Trails Over Boston by Nimay Shah

I started running in October and still do 2-3 miles once or twice a week after dropping art off at the post office if it isn't too cold... my favorite route to run is from my apartment to the Seaport and along the waterfront because it takes me right where this photo was taken. It really is this gorgeous at night.

"Vancouver" for EF International Language Centers' "Live The Language" campaign

(Sydney and Beijing are pretty cool too! and make me very disappointed that I didn't travel abroad in college.)

Spring Swatch dying over at Scout & Catalogue
also these tips on creating natural dyes on the Free People blog


"1st Round Compilation" by The Beauty of a Second

Doing a compilation like this would be a really cool way to record special events or a year of life/work.

Charmaine Olivia's workspace


"One Day Like This" by Elbow... you'll like this but you might have to click the link to watch it on YouTube.

 

My own Appalachian road trip journal in progress... also Miranda Lambert's new album, Four. I don't know how to embed it but you can listen to the first track "All Kinds of Kinds" here.

Have you found anything good lately?

inspired by: sketchbooks

I've been living in a sea of prints and packing materials since the holiday rush began and also in a sort of inspiration lull for a couple days... if the feeling isn't there I don't like to force it, so I haven't been painting or creating as much as usual this week (although, I really enjoyed playing with my watercolors for When We Love.) Instead I'm working on my sketchbook, printing out old photos and playing with new materials and figuring out what I want from my next few paintings. Sketchbooks and art journals are such a good way to experiment and sometimes they end up being just as gorgeous as "real" paintings. Also a good way to collect little bits of life to save for later... occasionally I've ripped a page from a sketchbook and sewed or glued it right into a work in progress. 

Here are some of my favorite sketchbooks by other artists and links to check out more of their work if you like.

Sketchbooks by illustrator Oliver Jeffers

UK Journal #11 via Just A Plane Ride Away

Sketchbook Pages via Yelena Bryksenkova
(I was a little excited when I ran across both of these.
My bedroom growing up in Seattle had a view of the Space Needle and Mount Rainier.
The beach in Ocean City was where I had my first "night swimming" experience.)

Moleskine via David Fullarton

Personal Mini Album DIY via Amanda Johnson

Moleskine via Anna Ruskova

Travel journals via Mary Ann Moss of Dispatch From L.A.

Art Journal by Debra Cooper

This is my own sketchbook... one of my favorite pages.

Okay... now I'm going to stop writing about art and actually go make some art. Ready, go.

leap in the dark

A corner of my sketchbook.

sketch & wander

I started a new sketchbook the day after I decided to quit my job to pursue art full-time. It was mostly to record the details of life and work in my new job and new home in Boston, little milestones and things I didn't want to forget, and techniques and materials I've started experimenting with. I've also gotten a lot of inspiration by leafing through older pages.

A couple pages inspired me to work on a new piece with a little less organization and planning than I usually do... and I ended up working a favorite quote and a favorite photograph of mine into a sort of rustic, go-with-the-flow sketchbook-esque painting... pretty much exactly what such a process would look like in the pages of my sketchbook. "Wander II" is 20"x16" mixed media on canvas with a little bit of everything... my photography, maps, old stamps, old letters and postcards, fabric measuring tape, aluminum tacks, text from a vintage book and a polaroid from my last camping trip.

I'm happy to say that it sold within a few hours of being finished... I feel like a little piece of my sketchbook is traveling on to a new home :)