Can it be 2012?

Can it be 2012 already? 

Can it be that the last time I wrote in my blog was July 16th!?

Can it be that I haven't been here for 6 months? 

Yes, I'm afraid so.
(Dmitry says, "It is 170 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date
Or 5 months, 17 days excluding the end date. But who's counting?")


And even though I have good intentions of being back here, truth is, I'm not sure how consistent I can be. All I know is I'll try.

I look back on the end of year posts from 2009 and 2010 and see that I did favorite photos of the year....and I know that I have barely picked up my camera in the second half of 2011. Not because I don't want to enjoy my photos and my memories, but I think I lost my artistic way a bit. Around about August 2011, I hit the brakes on my creative life and shifted gears and my energies to my new job, because, for the first time in over 6 years, I genuinely liked my job and every person I work with. Not since I was teaching at Westwood College, have I felt that I was in the right place career-wise. Not since Westwood and my dear Frank, have I had a boss who appears to care so much about her employees that I really wanted to work hard. And when you consider how much time you spend working, it's so good if you want to do it.

I've made about 4 digital scrapbook pages in the past 6 months. If you've been here before, you know that is basically nothing compared to 2010 and early 2011.

I took some online classes, Soul Restoration II (yes, I'm a Brave Girl, too), 21 Secrets, and Supplies Me with Jane Davenport, and In the Sun and I'm proud of the results. I've grown my drawing skills and my mixed media repertoire. But, sadly, I fell of the Art Journal Caravan, after 2 years. I traded pixels for pencils and have gotten back to basics. The resulting art work has been harder to share, since I never like the way they photograph and there are many more steps to sharing my art than when I was doing the digital pages.

And finally, it's January 2nd, 2012 and I have yet to share my one word (details for Ali Edwards One Little Word are here) for this year. But, that's what has steered me back here. Because it's important. It's important not to beat myself up for not blogging the last 6 months of my life (mostly because I was focused on my new job and my family).

It's important to me to choose a word that will guide my year, as I have in the past. 2010 had me focused, 2011 was organize.

And this year? 

Wow, this has been a tough one. 

There were so many that I wanted to choose, for several reasons. I need to think a bit more about it and I'll here be back to share what I've decided.

I'm Still Here Having Fun with Paint

I'm on the computer less and less these days, but that's because I don't want to get paint on my key board! Here's a peek at what I've been up to, and a peek at my biggest fan, Dmitry, the art cat (I'm sure he was more interested in the bird outside the window than in me.).

Happy Wednesday!

Monday Night Family Art

Tonight, after dinner and homework, (and Dancing with the Stars....I had to see Jennifer Grey....no one puts Baby in a corner), I twisted the kids' arms and got them to do a little art (Well, I twisted Matt's arm, Ana was all in....she loves to play with our art materials). Using an activity from Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun by Carla Sonheim, we created "Picasso dogs"....drawing each dog body part and then turning the paper 90 degrees, and finally connecting the parts. We colored them in with Copic markers and hung them on the fridge!!!

 

Family Art Day

I took the boys to an Family Art demonstration fair at the local Blick store. I've been planning to go for about 2 weeks, and I'm so glad that the boys were in the mood to try something new. Boys you ask? Where's Ana? My Ana's in Oregon for 2 weeks. She's my usual sidekick for these types of things, but I was pleasantly surprised that the boys were willing to go. Matt you may recognize, but the other guy is my nephew, Nick. The dude with the gray hair is a very nice, patient man who cheerfully allowed Matt to airbrush with his tools. Matt also made an Artist Trading Card, we painted on mini canvases (and just HAD to buy some to take home....they are such fun!), and the boys did Gyotaku fish prints with rubber fish. As, it was approaching 95 degrees, we had to leave before the pottery wheel and the spray painting demos started. Here's some photos:

  I'm thankful for this day to share something a little different with my guys, and I'll be on the lookout for other opportunities to share art with the kids.  Of course, I'll have to find something for my Ana, since she was a little bummed to not be here....of course, I'd love to be in Oregon, but that's another story.

How do you encourage the artist in the people around you, both young and old?