Studio Friday: My Collection

This week's topic for Friday October 27th suggested by Silvia: MY COLLECTION(S)!

"Most people collect something, it would be fun to see what others have in their collections."
~ Silvia

When I first started thinking about this topic, it seemed like I didn't have a large collection of anything other than books. (I love books of all kinds.) I tend to get a few thing that interest me and then I'm off to something else. Then I remembered my pottery. My collection of pottery has been with me a long time. While it's not very large, it has grown steadily. Whenever I'm at an arts festival or a gallery and have some extra money, I'll often buy a piece of pottery. Family and friends have given me pieces over the years. These are a few of my favorite pieces. They have a variety of styles, but all are loved and used. There's just something about the care and inspiration that has gone into each piece that makes it a delight to use.

The Sketch Habit

I've set a goal to do a sketch at least every day. I haven't been completely successful but it's getting better. Note to self: Next time you set a goal like this, make sure it's not during your busiest time of year. Some days it's a quick 5 minute sketch.

Some days it may be a quick 15 minute sketch.

Usually it's a sketch of whatever is in front of me. I used to sketch all of the time, but somewhere I got out of the every day habit. It's good to see it coming back.

Studio Friday: Autumn Inspiration

This week's topic for Friday October 20th suggested by Kerri: AUTUMN INSPIRATION!

"Autumn inspiration - According to my calendar, today (Sept 22) is the "Autumnal Equinox," and it's my favorite season, so show me what you love about the fall - the colors?... the leaves?...etc."~ Kerri

Here's some pictures from around the house, except the tree. The picture of the tree was taken down the street. Autumn is one of my favorite seasons. I love the crisp, clean feel of the air. I love the colors of the leaves, the berries on the bushes, pumpkins and winter squashes, and the bright blue sky on clear days. It's also the time of year when the smell of homemade breads, soups, pies and warm apple cider permeate the air. Autumn is full of good days for staying at home, planning projects, painting, knitting, and cooking.

See more Studio Friday Autumn Inspirations here.

Studio Friday: Fear

This week's topic for Friday October 13th suggested by Casey: FEAR!

"I have been away from Studio Friday for a while, and I really struggled with the toot your own horn topic. It actually made me do some free-writing and I thought of another topic that might be helpful for some of the studio friday artists: Fear."

What an appropriate time to join Studio Friday than when the topic is Fear. I've been meaning to join for a while now but I keep finding a reason to put it off. I don't really have a fear of things like spiders, flying, heights, snakes, hideous accidents or anything like that. My art is another thing entirely, though.

First there's the fear of failure. Not the fear of individual failed pieces but the fear that they will all be failures, that I will be a failure. I'm getting past this though. I have to remind myself that I mostly do art because I enjoy it and because it's who I am.

Then there's the fear that comes with the start of each individual painting. Every painting seems to go through it's ugly stage. Early on you wonder if you're just wasting paper and paint. I have to keep reminding myself to push on. I learn something from every painting, even failures. So with each step I take, the fear gets better. Each painting is a stepping stone to who I am now.

The painting here is one of my favorites, an older watercolor painting on the news media and fear.

You can see more Studio Friday here.

Still Here

Don't you just hate it when someone starts a blog, posts a first message and then never comes back? Yeah, me too. It's not easy for me to put my art out there. Once I started the blog, I had to take a step back before I could continue. Enough of my quirkiness though.

My first love is painting in acrylics. Well I love oils too but I just don't have a good place to use oils. My studio is also my home office and spare bedroom. The solvent smells would be just a little too much. Plus I like the quick drying aspect of acrylics.

I also like painting with watercolors but I still have a way to go technique-wise. So I try to practice my watercolors whenever I get the chance. It gets better with each painting. Here's my latest watercolor of an iris bloom. I've been getting home late this week so I had to take the picture at night. The colors are close though. I'm pleased with this one. I learned quite a bit with it and I like the end result. There is a lot I could have done better but that will always be true. Anyway I'm going to post regularly and not let so much time go by between posts.