Friday, March 23, 2012

Love holds the Key...

Love holds the Key 5 x 7 digital painting

The days just seems to fly by and I find myself amazed that it is time for PPF yet again! I am so thankful that I decided to jump in and play, as it is helping me to at least blog a bit more regularly. I get so lost, sometimes, in my ideas and my artwork that it is easy to let other things get by....maybe you understand that feeling too.  Anyway, hardly a day goes by that I do not paint or create and so I always want and need to post. One of my goals for the year is to be a better blogger. I have lots I want to say and do here...but again, time is an issue. For now I will be content to share my art. I appreciate your visits and comments. xokp

Friday, March 16, 2012

Friday already?

©kristen powers 2012 YOU WERE MEANT TO FLY 9x12 acrylic on canvas
 Wow! Cannot believe that another week has flown by so quickly! Paint Party Friday is here and I cannot come to the party without a painting...so, this one is called You Were Meant to Fly. It is 9 x 12 on Canvas. Thanks for stopping by Happy Friday!!
xokp

Saturday, March 10, 2012

pARTY on!

the bee holder 6 x 6 mixed media on clay board © kae pea 2012

I had heard of Paint Party Friday. My friend, artist Mary Nasser, told me about it. I am also fb friends with co-host  Kristin Dudish and quite a few of the weekly participants. But, still I drug my feet about getting involved. You know how it is. So many commitments and time constraints....but then I could not stand it as I began to see all of the wonderful art and creativity being shared! I just decided to jump in on the very last day of the first year! (Leave it to me!) Anyway, I want to share here my latest painting with you. It is very different for me and was brought about by my recent 24 hour painting jam session. I feel my artistic voice becoming clearer and stronger and my vision about my art truly beginning to emerge. I am very excited by this and hope you will continue to check back in to see where this leads! Like, every Friday maybe? 

live artfully,
xokp

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Highlights from my 24 hour Paint Jam

the angels intention. 24 x 24  acrylic and graphite on board
free to be.  5 x 7 acrylic on board
jane thinks of tears. 15 x 15 acrylic on arches
precious little monster 6 x 6 mixed media on clay board


 When the idea of a painting for 24 hours, videoing it and posting progress was brought up to me by my friend, Whitney Ferre, I thought it sounded like a great idea. I thought it would be, not only, a fun experience but the idea of that much time in the studio with my brushes in hand, just thrilled me.I agreed to participate, right away! 

Before I knew it, March 6th, the day of 24 hour paint was upon me. I began to fret. What if everything I painted came out ugly? How was I going to video all of it? What if I was a huge failure and could not even make it the whole 24 hours?
Yes, all of these crazy questions reared their ugly head. That tiny nagging voice that likes to begin a dialogue in your head at the most inopportune moments. The one that likes to whine and fill you with doubt. I ignored it. I spoke out loud as I cleaned up my studio. I to myself, "It's okay. Who cares if it's not perfect? Who cares if the paintings come out ugly? You love to paint so just do whatever and have fun. Martin Scorcese is not directing this. The only way you can fail is if you don't give it a try and follow through." Whiny voice quashed.

Thank goodness the love and desire to create, pretty much, takes over and the good always outweighs any possible negative or even the concern about the outcome...
The images above are the paintings I created over the 24 hour period. Each one is so much different from the next. I, of course, had a million ideas and imagined that I would get so much more done than was actually possible.

I ended up having to split my 24 hours up just a bit due to the fact that I drive my kids to school forty minutes away. I did not want to drive them across town after pulling an all nighter ( I am not 20 anymore!) So I got a few hours of shut eye, took them to school and came back and jumped back in. All together I made fifteen videos and four paintings. I feel it was worth every second and I would do it again in a heartbeat (only, next time it must start on a Friday)!

I went into this project just thinking it sounded like fun. Which it was. But it was so much more than that. I really learned a lot about myself. I feel I had a bit of a creative breakthrough during the whole process. It gave me the opportunity to watch myself in a way that I never thought to do before. I feel that I can see my true style beginning to emerge. Even though the works I created during this session are not very cohesive, I can still see myself fairly clearly in each one. And during this 24 hour period, I really got to think about what I like, what makes me happy artistically and why. I think, that is worth it's weight in gold.

I hope too, through all of this, that it may somehow inspire you to do something that you never thought you would (or could) do! 

Live Artfully!
xokp


P.S.
If you would like to see any of the videos please visit my YouTube channel

*Also please come back and visit my blog on Sunday March 11th for my Yard yART Sale! 
I will have all of the artwork I created PLUS lots more AND art supplies too for sale at yard sale prices!






Tuesday, March 6, 2012

24 hour Paint-A-Thon!!


My facebook friend and fellow instructor in the AIMS course, Whitney Ferre, came up with the idea to have an all night paint session! I thought this sounded like a swell idea! So starting this afternoon at 12 cst, I will be posting a video to my Youtube channel ! I will be posting a new video every hour (or so) until 12 p.m. tomorrow! This should be very interesting :) I hope you will tune in and check out some of my works in progress and see what I am up to (because I honestly have no idea)!
Also Check out Whitney's 24 hour paint session too!
Now I am off to paint!!! xokp

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Making Art...

"what making art means to me..." acrylic & graphite on paper
I painted this in response to a journal prompt. I really love it. I don't say that about my own work too often. But there is something about this that I loved from the moment I sketched it. That does not usually happen. I find that my art usually goes through and ugly stage where I dislike it very much and come close to abandoning it all together. Not this time. This time I knew from the start that I was going to be happy with the outcome. I hope you love her too and that it resonates with you. I made it into a print if you would like to have it hanging in your creative space too :) http://www.etsy.com/listing/94384502/making-art-a-print-from-my-original-art

I hope you don't mind if I mention, again, the Angels in My Studio e-course that is coming up. Please remember to leave a comment on my previous post if you are interested in winning a spot! I hope you will join us~ I truly believe it is going to be a very moving experience! If you decide to sign up, PLEASE use my link: http://546d8dldw4dlelbmj8x50zkd-q.hop.clickbank.net/

artfully yours,
xokp