Who is inspiration?
Hello beautiful people,
I am writing this in the sunshine that we are finally seeing after what seems like weeks of rain and cloudy, doom and gloom here in California. I know most of you are in the midst of a midwest winter and I shouldn’t complain, but I fully believe depression would be solved if we saw sunshine more often. Since living out here the amount of days where I don’t feel motivated or don’t want to get out of my bed are very limited. And I give full credit to these gorgeous beams of light and bright blue skies filled with fluffy cotton candy clouds. :)
I don’t have an agenda for this blog so be prepared to hop around on my train of thought!
I want to thank all of you for the love on my first story sales of the year. No matter how many times I post my paintings on the internet to the world there is always the nervous jitters before I publish. After doing this for three years I am well versed on what I need to post and how to present it, but then I remember that the product is something that I spent many hours on and there is a real possibility that it is not as great as I thought all along. You all show me time and time again that art is the bridge between us all and you will support someone doing something with passion.
Before I get too far into this the number one thing y’all wanted to know was my go to cup ‘o joe. Now if you don’t have a Nespresso or some form of espresso option, I literally can’t help you and I wish upon the coffee gods you are rewarded with an espresso machine soon. I was a die hard, coffee pot or Keurig girl, and now I don’t know how I drank that watered down madness. (no offense intended but my opinions are my own) :p Are you ready for the secret???
Brown Sugar Latte
Start your double shot of espresso. Nespresso users, I only drink Bianco Doppio.
Put 1/2-3/4 tsp of brown sugar into the mug to pour on to.
Once shot is poured swirl it around to dissolve the sugar.
While that was pouring warm your choice of milk. I use 1 cup of oat milk. Califia extra creamy oat milk.
I do not have a fancy warmer or frother so I just microwave it for 2.5 mins. Two minutes is totally fine if you don’t forget about your coffee often and will sit and drink it right away.
I splash a bit of vanilla creamer into the espresso shots. Silk oat vanilla is yummy.
Then pour your warmed milk on top. Trying to decipher the fun shape the milk foam leaves is a wonderful part of my morning. Its like the universe is trying to talk to me via coffee beans.
Easy, simple, delicious. Not rocket science. I have a cup almost every day and haven’t gotten tired of it .
Hope you enjoy!
If a good cup of coffee doesn’t inspire you then you’re not trying hard enough for that cup. However, I do need more than coffee for my art endeavors to soar.
Who is inspiration?
I always find it hard to put into words what inspires me. Throughout my journey I have always tried to make a conscious effort to slow down in my daily activities and take in my surroundings. This is much easier when I am on a 10 mile hike on the weekends. I look over the trees and mountains and see the different shades of green blending into themselves over the peaks and swells. And I look down at the gravel walk and see the tiniest little wildflowers growing out from beneath the rocks and stare in awe at their determination to get a piece of the sun beam poking through the leaves each morning. All of these little moments inspire the emotions I feel while trying to bring a piece together, and help me escape to these places within my mind as I blend the paints into multiple shades.
Even with all of these little moments and thoughts I find it hard to inspire an exact style or theme to each of my pieces.
I find myself more often in awe of the human body and the figures that we all walk around in each day. The graceful movements of a dancers sweeping arms and the skeleton of those struggling protruding from beneath our cages of skin. There isn’t much that is profound in my life that leads me to the subject of my paintings. Though I try to always have some kind of connection to what I am putting at the end of my brush.
All of that to say that I am at the will of my mind and my experiences as to what inspires me each and every day.
Artists are perceived to have something tragic going on or digging deep into their psyche to show emotion on a canvas. I find many times that I am so grateful for the life that I lead and get to wake up to every day that I struggle to let out the emotions I have onto a canvas. I have feelings of an imposter as an artist because I am not struggling, have not had a tragic life, and if anything love every decision in my life that has lead me here. Though my works are not filled with happiness, joy or elation. Its a confusing spot to sit in as a creative and I don’t see many who speak on matters such as this. The perception of what an artist should be and what we must have gone through to paint in sadness and longing is not always the case. If I can’t speak to that emotion then how can a collector feel connected to me or my pieces? Do we all walk around feeling like a fraud even when we are exactly where we want to be?
This journey of self discovery and openness to both my readers/collectors and my mind is something I am working really hard at this year. I want to recognize the feelings I have towards my career and subject matter but also be able to express them to myself and to you all so that we can all feel a little more when it comes to looking at art. The best art are the pieces that don’t need any sort of explanation and bring you into a moment in your own life after only seeing a few brushstrokes. Having feelings you had no intention of remembering with just the sight of the canvas. These are the types of pieces I try and create for myself and for you all. I hope with this deep dive into my processing mind you can all take a look at my pieces a little different and with a little more heart and sight into your own self to find some kind of connection.
The month of February is finally here and I swear January was at least 62 days long. Now that we are here I am so excited to get into some projects!
I have a partial collection that I had started before the new year and had intentions to finish these pieces and then release them within a few weeks. And then the month got away from me. I have also been learning new techniques within my coursework and my mindset is already shifting away from how I used to create pieces. I am working on a couple of new canvases and putting finishing touches on a couple from that collection.
My hope it to release this collection by the end of the month! I was already so pumped about the two pieces I have shared and now I get to add more pieces that I am so so happy with, I can’t wait to share them with you!
Along with that collection release I am also headed back to Michigan next week to paint a bedroom mural for the luckiest little 6 year old. Filled with her favorite colors, sunset skies and life size florals I can wait to get this piece on to the walls! I love doing murals and will definitely share some sneak peaks while I work on it.
As always if there is some sort of art project you are interested in and like my style feel free to send me a message and we can see if we can bring your ideas to life. :)
I will leave you with a thought provoking question: Being stuck listening to classical music in your ears for the rest of your life(no other sounds make it through) or not being able to taste anything that you eat.
Let me know in the comments if you made it through this whole masterpiece of emotional revelations and if you want me to always be so raw with you. If you just wanted the kiddo version of happy art and creating magic I can send you something personally. :p