Right now it's 7pm on a Tuesday night. I'm sitting in a funky downtown coffee house drinking some delicious coffee while I wait for my precious daughter to finish her weekly painting class. Not only am I jazzed to find myself with 2 whole hours ALONE in a great vibe place on this lovely evening, but I'm also tickled to pieces that Ellie finally found an activity (and maybe even a new tribe!) that she is loving. She is almost 14 and since she was 4, we've been trying to find an extracurricular activity that she enjoys besides reading. We found out for sure that she is not a sports or "group" person. We've tried soccer TWICE, dance, Girl Scouts, and a few others but she just didn't enjoy it. We had lots of tears on the soccer field and even refusals to run, walk or even move! It kind of cracks me up because she totally gets every bit of this resistance from me. Her Dad is athletic and my mom is great at sports. Me? Not a chance. I was the girl with huge frizzy hair, glasses and my nose shoved in a book. Sweat? No way! It would just make my hair bigger. I was terrified of being hit and pretty much had an asthma attack any time someone mentioned dodge ball. At least the asthma helped make my PE wimp outs totally legitimate...
Anyway. The point is Ellie has potentially found her groove and it makes me happy. Not only because she is having a blast exploring art in this fun local studio but also because it's a creative joy that I can share with her. Below are a couple pics of Ellie (and one of my cat Winston as a baby just because I saw it) and a flower painting she made for me in class. SWOON.
My own art practice is still happening, although I haven't been at it every day lately. But I've noticed the slip quickly this time and have consciously steered myself back to my goals. I think I need to get back into taking online classes because I can definitely tell a difference in my confidence and my inspiration when I'm trying out new techniques and perspectives. I have a few classes picked out from Skillshare and Studioworks that I'll do this weekend. One of the classes is teaching Van Gogh's painting style and I'm really excited about that. He is one of my favorite artists but I haven't tried to paint anything of his yet. We'll see how it goes!
Below are a couple of my practice pieces. The red background with white flowers is my favorite. I painted this without a reference and I think it turned out nicely. There's actually several layers underneath of versions I didn't like but I love the texture that built up as a result.
I attempted the weeping bonsai tree for one of the #coloricombo challenges by Este MacLeod. It's not quite what I was intending but I did enjoy using a limited color palette. I usually struggle with using too many colors and it was very grounding to restrict myself and calm the urge to grab a new tube. I fully intend to do this more often.
That's it for now! Hopefully I'll have more finished practice pieces soon.
~Anna
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