Today: What I made | 002

This week I accomplished a whole lot of half-things.  Which is to say, I started a lot, but finished a little.  I feel like I’ve been washing the same load of laundry for a month.  And I’ve been reading the same paragraph of the same book for just as long (incidentally, it’s a very good paragraph and a very good book).  I don’t get much done these days.

I leave a trail of unfinished thoughts, ideas, sentences, bowls of cereal, and yes… piles of laundry in my wake.  On the best of days, it’s sort of funny.  On the worst of days, it’s sort of demoralizing.  I feel like someone who doesn’t follow through.  Someone who is unreliable.  Someone who can’t be counted on.  

And then I (mostly) get a grip.

When Grace was a newborn, I remember how much it helped to accomplish one thing a day.  Sometimes that was taking a shower, sometimes it was a trip to the library.  As time passed, we were able to accomplish more, but even the tiniest accomplishments went a long way towards building my confidence as a new mom.  

So I am reminded to both keep trying and to manage my expectations.  And to not start so many things that can’t be finished.  

This part of life is crazy, but it’s also really short.  And there is so much that is never finished.  The big things, like the work and joy of being a parent.  

This is turning into something waaaay more emo than I intended.  Sorry.  Here’s what I made.  Or, more accurately, what I started making.  

What I made | 002

Materials used: Winsor and Newton professional watercolor tubes, Winsor and Newton drawing ink (974 white), Royal Taklon brush (round 7), Strathmore 300 series mixed media sketchbook (11 in. x 14 in.).

The new season of the Get Messy Art Journal (click to join or learn more!) just started and the theme is happiness.  Much of what I made this week is inspired by the first set of prompts (thanks, Julia!), including this painting of the sky.  I love looking up (literally and, like, figuratively) and I love that Grace has taken to pointing out the moon and stars as soon as she spots them.  

So I guess the sky counts as my “happy place,” or one of them, at least. Few things make me happier than a clear, star-filled sky.  I don’t however, like to think about what’s beyond those stars.  Outer space totally freaks me out.  And don’t even start with me about aliens.  

Materials used: Posca paint pen (grey), Winsor and Newton professional watercolor tubes, Winsor and Newton gouache, Sakura Gelly Roll pen (white), Strathmore 300 series mixed media sketchbooks (11 in. x 14 in. and 5.5 in. x 8.5 in.).

This page references the aforementioned really good paragraph in a really good book.  I’m (very slowly) reading No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thích Nhất Hạnh, which sounds really depressing… but it’s not.  It’s really quite wonderful.  The full quote I used for this page is:

“Without suffering, there’s no happiness. So we shouldn’t discriminate against the mud. We have to learn how to embrace and cradle our own suffering and the suffering of the world, with a lot of tenderness.”

Materials used: Sakura gelly roll pen (black), Handmade Modern acrylic paint from Target, Golden high flow acrylic paint (I mixed a few shades to get his pale robin’s egg-ish blue), Strathmore 400 series bound sketchbook (8.5 in. x 5.5 in.).

These coneflowers (a.k.a. echinacea) are one of my favorite things to draw from memory.  And I love Thomas Merton.  And order (or some resemblance of order) definitely contributes to my happiness. I’m hoping to finish up the lettering on that page sometime this week this century. 

Materials used: Winsor and Newton professional watercolor tubes, sea salt (it creates a fun effect with wet watercolors), Micron pen (black 01), black gesso, a cardboard box and x-acto knife (to make the bird stencil).

One of my favorite parts of the Get Messy program is the weekly tutorials shared by members.  This week, Vanessa shared tips on making your own stencils.  I got really fancy resourceful and cut these hawks out of an empty Cheerios box.  The quote is another one from No Mud, No Lotus:

“The French have a song they like to sing, “Qu’est-ce qu’on attend pour être heureux?” (What are you waiting for in order to be happy?) You can be happy right here and right now.”

I don’t particularly like how this page turned out, so I will likely turn it into something else.  Or (let’s be serious) trash it.

Materials used: Posca paint pen (black), 900 different acrylic paints, white gesso, Strathmore 300 series mixed media sketchbooks (11 in. x 14 in.), Winsor and Newton professional watercolor paint (Opera Rose).

I had an idea about where I wanted this to go.  And then I got carried away.  Thank goodness for gesso.  I like that you can almost see all the ridiculous flowers I painted, and that their full ridiculousness is obscured by a wash of gesso.  

This has “work in progress” written all over it.  

Materials used:  Everything I own that is both pink and an art supply. (I can provide specifics if you’re really interested, but…)

I saved the most pink and the most finished piece for last.  I sort of love how this turned out.  It makes me happy.  And what more could you ask for?

Also On Tap for Today:

• 7 truths for creative success via Julep (the minted.com blog)
• Snow day…
• Eat Your Luck for Lunar New Year via The Kitchn

What’s on your “to finish” list?