Good afternoon!
I have been “retired” since the 4th of July of this year. These past 3 1/2 months have practically flown by.
I have been spending my time taking care of myself, catching up on some much needed sleep, getting back in touch with friends that I hadn’t had time to spend time with before, watching copious amounts of artist’s videos on YouTube, arting with friends in town, and playing up in my art studio. Yes, I know I am a very VERY lucky girl!!!
Those of you who have been reading my blog might know that I really love arting, but in the past 3 /2 months I have discovered that all things mixed media and art journaling have become quite essential to my sense of happiness. That really shouldn’t be surprising to me, but it really has been! Because of my newfound love affair, (hee! hee!) I have been trying all sorts of new products, mixed media techniques, and all sorts of new art ideas and projects to help me explore this new creative outlet!
Although I wouldn’t change a thing about the past 3 1/2 months, I think that it is time that I stop frittering away my time, and put all of this arty goodness to use, at least in some small way! So, as my first act of artsy bravery, I have decided to start sharing my artwork with the world…er…well, at least anyone in the world who might be interesting in seeing it! 🙂 To do this, I thought it would be fun to start my very own YouTube channel!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4Of6Y-cX-foVyd-upZKbQ
I am so excited to also announce that I have started a weekly Art Journal Page video series, and I am very happy to share that I have already uploaded my first two videos! Last week’s video took such a long learning curve, that I couldn’t seem to muster the strength to have a blog post accompany that video, however I will get it together enough to post today’s video details now! and, I will work on getting last week’s video info up tomorrow!
Here is this week’s Art Journal Video info!
I went into this spread with no idea on what was going to come out on the pages. I just picked a few colors I thought might look good together and went for it! The background stamp that I chose is one of my favorite stamps! I find that I use it often in my journaling projects!
I also thought some drips would be nice, I have seen a lot of my favorite artists do this and thought it would be easy to do, which I am sure it really should have been, but as you might’ve seen…it was a little trickier, and messier than I had expected!! At least I didn’t get any of the red paint on my beige carpet!! WHEW!!! Can I also mention how much I love my new fineline bottles??? I just love how easy they are to use. I have one bottle for my white paint, and one for black! I highly recommend them!
The green that I added to this page was purely a gut reaction to wanting to go in the absolute opposite direction from where the page had gone at the get go. After putting the red drips down the page, it just looked like the scene of a bloody massacre!! LOL! I think the green turned out rather well, and felt the need to make sure to spread the green all throughout the design.
By the time that this spread was completed, I was a very happy girl!!
Not only because I was able to salvage this design and turn it into something that looks like I had planned it that way on purpose, but because I got some much needed guidance on some questions that I had been mulling over.
While I am arting, I do so in silence. I do that so I can hear my soul tell me what I need to hear, or teach my what I need to be taught. This page caused me to reflect on how amazing this past 3 1/2 months has been. It has been amazing, but it has also been a dream that is not maintainable…at least not yet. Even though my sweetie has given me a free and clear to continue on like this for as long as I want, I want more. I want to be earning my keep, making a living.
Living a life that is bigger than just me.
I really don’t know what all of that will look like, but I know right now, this first step of sharing my art with you is my first start! I keep hearing, “You don’t have to see all of the steps in the staircase, just see the first step, and all subsequent steps will appear at the exact right time!” That is what this is. My first step!! I can’t wait to see how my staircase unfolds!! 🙂
As for my YouTube channel and videos, I would LOVE it if you would watch, thumbs up, subscribe, and share any comments or feedback you might have! That would be EXCELLENT!!
So here is to putting on my big girl panties and taking that first step!! 🙂
~Chrissie B.