Inspiration

This is one of the many images I took over the years that lead to my series "Field Notes".

Now that I have my new Mac, and everything is getting sorted I'd guestimate that I have over 275,000 photos I've taken in the past 20 years, and that's digital photos alone. Once I get my new scanner in house I will be able to scan all of my negatives and put them onto an external drive for future use.

The Magnolia Seed Pod Project Continues

Working on the Magnolia Seed Pod Project.

I did a little research this afternoon into Magnolia blossoms, and the ones we have here in Iowa do not look like the ones in the southern states.

The blossoms here in Iowa are pinkish, while the ones down south are a gorgeous white color, and the blossoms are huge compared to ours.

I'm hoping to get some photos of the magnolia tree up the street from my house on Saturday, that's if the wind doesn't blow all of the blossoms away.

Making a Watercolor Field Journal

I'm working on a 4.5 x 12 inch field journal for sketching and painting grasses, forbs, and the like.

Yes, I know I could use one of the field journals that's already on the market, the problem with this is they all have a fold in the middle, when using them vertically. And that fold disrupts my "flow". So make one instead, right?

Studio Update April 10th, 2023

My new iMac Pro will be here this coming Saturday, yay! Until then I'm wading through things, income taxes, getting everything done so I can spend quality time with my new machine.

Amazingly enough it has taken me almost two weeks to get all of the apps and programs installed on this laptop. The good news is I wrote down my passwords this time!

I'm ready to start creating once again, it's been a long time coming! I'm still learning how to use my new Sony Camera, it's a beast for sure and it takes gorgeous photos!

The Deer Slayer - made some time ago.

Let there be Light!

Finally after years of struggling I have a some what professional videography set up in my design studio! John was very helpful in getting this set up all the way from infusing a huge amount of coin into my studio to physically setting up the equipment rack system so that it's stable.

My first video will be show casing my new set up, I'll be taking most of that video with my iPhone, and then a quick demo at my work table. The amount, and quality, of light the Neewer Ring Lamp puts out is incredible!

My Table

Due to an equipment technical difficulty, I need longer screws for the equipment bar so it'll quit rolling making my camera unstable, I won't be able to start videotaping in earnest until this coming Sunday. So I'm working on other projects in the interim.

This is my work mat on my work table. I've had a lot of comments about this mat, mostly in favor of said mat. Brenda tells me it's perfect for what I'm doing, I hope so because I really love this mat.

Anyway, during the past year I've learned a lot, believe it or not, watching lawn mowing videos on YouTube. So much so that I'm now taking an intensive course on how to use YouTube as a teaching tool. There is, surprisingly enough, a lot more to YT than just uploading a video and praying that someone notices it enough to want to watch the whole video.

I'll be posting more about this journey in the coming weeks, it was a true God moment for me, that pretty much started with a neurological event in 2017 that pretty much totally changed my life. And then there was the thumb injury in December of 2021 that lead to surgery last September. I'm finally feeling like a better version of myself now, and this is a good thing!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Black Birds in Tree stenciled onto hand-painted cotton fabric.

Click the Stencil in my Shop link above to buy one of my stencils today!

A year ago I broke my thumb and screwed up the tendons and ligaments trying to open a tamper resistant box of organic radish sprouts.

I didn’t think I’d ever stitch, hand or machine for that matter, ever again that’s how much pain I was in, and then I had surgery last September.

And now I’m back and I’m really excited to be back. New Year’s Eve was the first time I didn’t experience horrible pain when using my left hand. I was overwhelmed with joy when I first noticed that I was lifting thing, drawing, etc., and it my hand no longer hurt.

It was time for some changes

At the Marsh

For those of you that have been following me for a while probably know that like a lot of artists I’ve gone through a “dry period”. Lots of personal loss of family and friends in the past year, I broke my left thumb and trashed the tendons in the process, and now economic woes, all of that can weigh heavily on a person.

So what’s a girl to do? Make changes of course.

I started drawing and writing daily again, even if it was only scribbles and making lists, it was something!

I gave myself a deadline of January 15th, that’s been moved to the 30th, to clean and organize my studio. Once again I got stuck and started watching lawnmowing videos again. What I didn’t know was in the process of watching those videos I was learning! I was learning what I liked and didn’t like about various lawn mowing channels, and ultimately what I liked and didn’t like about my studio practice.

I learned I wasn’t just blocked, I was stuck! That’s not necessarily a bad place to be, so long as you eventually move forward, and take note of anything you may have learned during the process of being stuck.

So forward I go with my website and social media, making changes, changes that represent where I am now, and where I intend to go going forward.

It's 2023!!!

Happy New Year! I've been busy cleaning and organizing my studio with the goal in mind to be done by the end of January! My original goal was for December 31st, 2022, but as usual life conspired against me and I had to stop and address those issues first.

The goal, now that I have my studio floor space cleared so I can set up multiple tripods, is to start streaming weekly again. Looking back at older videos 2016 was the last time I streamed weekly and it feels like a life time ago. And of course streaming technology has not only changed, but it has also improved and greatly!

Harvest Season has Ended!

Midnight Harvest

Soft Pastels on toned paper.

I had fun experimenting with my new soft pastels on this toned, aka black, paper. It’s a little over 4 x 6 inches and it depicts the final passages through the fields that farmers make, very often close to midnight!

This little piece has given me inspiration to start a new series focusing on The Harvest, that I will be painting onto fabric, etc. Stay tuned as there will be more coming and soon.

If you’d like to have sneak peeks of this new series, as a Studio Insider, then please consider becoming a Patreon Supporter!

Thumb Surgery

I’m having surgery on my left thumb on the 16th, doc says it should take all of ten minutes. The surgery entails fixing my trigger thumb and also removing a cyst that has since developed in the bottom joint of my thumb.

Nurse said I won’t be able to use my hand, or get it wet, for the first three days, and that everything should be back to normal within a week! Here’s to being able to create again w/o pain in my left hand!

Keep Pushing

In March of 2020 when discussions started happening of national and global shut downs I asked John to stop at the store and pick me up some sketchbooks and mixed media journals.

This is what I have left of the dozen sketchbooks and MM journals he picked up for me. Three new smallish sketchbooks and one new large sketchbook.

So I asked him to stop at Hobby Lobby after work to pick up some Mixed Media Journals as I have three blank pages left in my current journal.

Now to look back over the past two years and see what I've created. I did a LOT of writing in those sketchbooks, especially around the time of his total knee replacement surgery. Creating was very difficult the past two years, but I kept pushing even if it was drawing random stuff on my work table.