In Honor of Halloween: MY OWN Ghost Photo!

Okay, I must preface this with a confession: if you look at my list of DVR'd TV shows, they are almost all about ghosts, aliens, the unexplained, mysteries, and true crime... with episodes of Breaking Amish thrown in. I have always been fascinated with the unexplained and believe that there are a lot of things out there that we don't yet understand/have an explanation for.

That being said, at the beginning of this past summer, I took a trip to a beautiful little place in eastern Ohio called the Dawes Arboratum, and blogged about it HERE. I took hundreds of pictures, some of which were still sitting untouched in Adobe Lightroom a couple weeks ago, when I decided to return to them. There is this oooooold cemetery in the arboratum that I of course stopped to take pictures in, since I have a weird thing for cemeteries. None of the pictures really did it for me though, so they sat in the "untouched" pile. When I revisited them recently, something jumped out at me in this photo:

Click on it, blow it up, and tell me if you see anything weird going on up in there. If not, maybe take a peek at this one, zoomed in a bit:

See it yet? Here it is, even closer still...

Is it just me or do those look like strange white/gray legs in the middle of a whole slew of NOTHING BUT GREEN???

If I have completely lost my mind and you were not seeing what I was thinking I was seeing, I did a little circling action for you. It looks like legs right?? Long skinny legs? I swear I can see knees, two of them. If it was something on the lens, why is it clearly behind those trees? Here is another look:

I don't know. I'm not saying that I think it's a ghost, but I'm saying that it's not something on my lens and that it's super weird/creepy/scary/bizarre/I'M NEVER GOING TO THAT CEMETERY ALONE AGAIN.

What do you think? Ghost? Camera malfunction? Sasquatch? Random white tree branches? 

Happy Halloween :)

40 Works In 40 Days - Day 6 and Day 7

Has it really been a week since I started this project?? So I may or may not be a little behind on my posting - oops. Today is Day 8, but here are the works from days 6 and 7. Day 6 was completely about losing myself in what I was doing and not worrying about anything except dipping my paintbrush and making marks on a page. It's pretty disjointed but honestly represents the state of mind I was in at the time perfectly. 

Day 7 was kind of an extension of an art journal page I did a few months ago and really liked... just gluing things and doodling is kind of a zen-like experience. My obsession with graph paper continues... I think I like working with it because it reminds me of notebook doodling from high school and college. I actually still have multiple notebooks from high school and college because, well, the doodles around the edges of the pages are cool. 

Now it's day #8... and I haven't actually started anything yet. It has been a "worrying day," again. Yesterday was too to be completely honest, to the point where I was feeling like quitting my job really was a huge mistake. When I was driving home from the store, I got a thank you email from a girl who bought a print of "Beware of Artists." She got it for a friend who is an artist and is turning 65. The email made me cry, like in the car at a red light, instant tears. Sometimes it's like the world knows I need little reminders about why I am doing this. 

I had another interview today, which went great. The one Tuesday? No way: I was pretty much told the place was dead during the shifts they needed covered and they were looking for someone who wanted to take time to "build the business." Sorry, not to sound like a jerk, but I cannot afford to work for free. Today's interview was at a really popular bar that has a huge stage for concerts and is super busy. They will be making a decision on Monday and if there is one place I'd want to work it's this one. The odds of actually landing the job are pretty slim, but my fingers are crossed. 

Now it's only 10:30pm, and it's time to once again give myself an attitude adjustment. I know the stress is coming from the fact that tomorrow is November 1 - RENT DAY. Joy. Thank the lord my place has a grace period until the 5th. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not have to worry about money. But there is a reason why I quit my job and am doing this project and am making art in general and that's because I love it. I love it with all of my heart and want to dedicate my life to it. Bad days be damned - they will not stop me. I foresee some paint flinging and aggression releasing in Day 8's piece... better get started!

Read about how this project started HERE.

The works from this project are available HERE.

40 Works In 40 Days - Day 5

Oooooh my lord is it really almost November? I cannot believe in a few days it will have been two months since I left my job. Wow.

Yesterday marked Day 5, and this is what came out of it. I have been wanting to experiment with painting on top of multiple layers using different media and this project is the perfect time to do so. Random sidenote: if you are like me and did not know this AMAZING TIP, you can soak dried up paintbrushes (I had paintbrushes from college that I was too lazy to wash... still stuck to dried paint cups) in Murphy's Oil Soap for a couple days, wash them, and they are like new. I'm not even kidding, I feel like I have a completely new paintbrush collection. Why I saved cups of dried up brushes? Who knows. But I couldn't be happier I did. 

So while Day 6 (today) is drying and I cannot scan a picture yet, I keep thinking about my bartending job interview tomorrow. Yesterday and today I have been flooded with new art ideas and the thought of giving up my time that I could be spending carrying them out is honestly painful. I wish so much that I had one more month's living expenses saved up so I didn't have to take a side job. But what ifs are pointless, right? And sometimes you have to do what you have to do. 

Today I started experimenting with the patterns I recently learned how to create. I thought they might make cute typography posters, and here are a couple I came up with:

I like the idea of them and love playing with different colors. AND sometimes it's just nice to work on something completely different than you usually do to break up the monotony. If it's one thing I don't do, it's monotony :)

So I decided to have a good attitude about tomorrow. It's not failing because I'm trying to get a part time job, I'm just doing what I have to do to make my dream possible... and why not be willing to do anything for your dream? I just hope I remember how to interview for a job, and that I remember everything I used to know about bartending and booze. The place I'm interviewing at specializes in whiskey, which I honestly cannot stand. I'll do shots of Jameson if I need something  that hurts on purpose, but it tends to make me stand on furniture. But again, maybe it will break up the monotony. 

40 Works In 40 Days - Day 4

Yesterday was day 4 of my project/experiment. In the afternoon, I started seeing comments that people left on here from the previous days of this project and I was completely in shock and overwhelmed. The creative community is amazing, there is no other way to put it. The kinship that other artists feel with one another (with people we have never met in person!) is instantaneous and powerful. I don't even know how to describe it; there are no words. I just know that I am completely and utterly grateful to be a part of it. 

That dramatic display of emotion aside, I started this guy in the wee hours of last night... okay technically this morning. But I hadn't gone to sleep, so it was still Day 4 to me. I splashed various paints on watercolor paper, had a cocktail with my friend Amber (she is visiting from Chicago and I love when she is here) while it dried, then started doodling away. I've been obsessed with henna for as long as I can remember. The intricate designs and ornate patterns are totally my thing. When I was in college I bought this book called Traditional Mehndi Designs... that link is for a used copy for only $8.24. If you are into henna patterns, I could not possibly recommend a better book. It's HUGE and every single page is just full of illustrated patterns and patterned hands/feet. I look at it almost daily for inspiration. 

I'm really happy with the way Day 4 came out; the way the designs look over the colors of paint interests me. Pretty sure I'll be doing a large-scale work with this idea sometime in the near future. Now here we are in Day 5... no ideas yet as to what tonight's piece will entail but I'm excited to find out!

Any new readers can learn how this project began HERE.

40 Works in 40 Days - Day 3

Today was weird. There are a lot of things on my mind; it's been a "worrying day," as I have come to call them. This morning started out great: I taught myself how to make seamless patterns in Photoshop and came up with this colorful explosion:

Then tonight was kind of downhill. I applied for some bartending jobs (I used to be a bartender and actually love doing it) because the worrying was so bad. I have an interview on Tuesday. I do not want to take another dead-end job and can't help but feel like I'm failing, which is so stupid. It's such a strange feeling... like one part of me is saying NO! KEEP GOING! And the other part of me is saying to be realistic and reminding me that I cannot pay my rent in artwork when it is due in five days.

So Day 3's work... I'm honestly not that overjoyed with. Maybe someday it will come to represent inner struggle or something deep like that. But right now, to me, it just looks kind of dead. I was messing around with some paint and paper this morning while I was on the phone, just for fun. So I used that, then cut out some mushrooms I drew this morning to practice patterns with. Somehow the whole thing just looks sad to me. 

I'm not a big believer in "bad days." Bad things can happen on any given day but when you go to bed at night, you are ultimately the one who decides the day was bad. Today was not my favorite day, but I refuse to categorize it as being bad... which is not always easy, but it's always possible. I mean there are still four days until Tuesday. Something amazing couple happen in between now and then and I won't have to go to my job interview and my worrying days will all but disappear. 

It's only Day 3 and this project is already making me do a lot of thinking.

40 Works In 40 Days - Day 2

I've been working on logos and designs for a handful of people lately... which is kind of a first for me. You have to learn to take things with a grain of salt because let's face it: everyone's taste is different. What you think is awesome someone else might shudder at. But that's one of the infinite things that makes life interesting; no two of us are alike.

A couple of the logos I have been working on involve portraits/faces which I LOVE drawing. I run into trouble because a lot of people like a clean-cut, simple style... and I cannot stop adding details and embellishments and glitter and squiggles and.... I digress. 

So for Day 2, I wanted to do a portrait (really liking drawing faces lately, after a many year gap of not doing so) with no limits/boundaries/etc. Et voila, we have this crazy little chica :)

Read about how this project began HERE.

And the originals from this project are available HERE.

40 Works In 40 Days - Day 1

So I have not painted in aaaaaaages. When looking through my "scary closet" the other day (this would be the closet in my studio that houses any and all extra things I own plus my HUGE collection of Christmas decorations), a bag of acrylic paint that I forgot existed just kind of fell out. Okay, sign noted, day 1 would involve painting. 

In a college painting course I once took, my professor (a very serious dutch lady who outlawed listening to music during her class) once looked at me, arms crossed shaking her head, and told me I couldn't just sit there and "happily paint" and I needed to dig into some deep, dark place. She hated my use of bright colors. So in my next painting I tried to use "scary colors." What I ended up with: pastels. Lesson I learned: I like color. She does not. We are all different. 

Anyway, I started this by misting the paper with water in a spray bottle, then dragged some thinned acrylic over the surface. The darker spots are alcohol ink, one of my favorite game-changers (if anyone hasn't yet discovered Tim Holtz you MUST check out his stuff!), then splattered some white on top. It was so liberating and awesome to not worry about how it would turn out... which is exactly what I wanted to feel. 

Day 1 = crazy bright colorful success. Today is Day 2 and I'm already thinking of a totally different direction to try. No rules. My favorite way to operate!

Read about how this project began HERE.