Procrastination (part 2): Persevere and Prevail

December 19th, 2012: A lesson in Perseverance   

     A couple of weeks ago I told you I was not going to give up. That failure was NOT an option when it came to creating a painting for my in-laws. This week I came to the realization that Christmas is less then a week away and the "big one" was still sitting in my bedroom untouched. I have had zero motivation to paint these past few weeks but I NEEDED to get off my lazy butt and get it done because if I didn't start this week it wasn't going to get done at all (I'm already nervous it wont dry in time for our gift exchange). So reluctantly I pulled out my oils, sketched on canvas and reference material, turned on the holiday music (hoping it would put me in a merrier mood), and got to work.

1) Painting is substantially more difficult when one has to stop every few minuets to keep tabs on a very mobile baby. Lil E decided yesterday that he was going to be a handful and get into EVERYTHING. So the first half of the work, which was the most difficult part, took almost twice as long to complete.

2) Painting is substantially more difficult when there is a lack of motivation to do any sort of art project.

3) Painting is substantially more difficult where there is a Law & Order: SVU marathon on T.V.

 After 3 hours this is what I had accomplished:

If I never paint another rock in my life it'll be too soon

 

At this point Lil E went down for a nap and I got significantly more accomplished. After a few more hours I breathed a sigh of relief. I could officially say I was DONE.

I stood back and took a nice long look and decided it wasn't full of crap. Like, not at all. I was actually PROUD of what I had just accomplished. My hope is that Fiancé's parents like it and will be equally as proud to hang it on their wall.

 

The Finished Product- Chimney Rock, Priest Lake, ID:

 

The color is just a touch off because of the poor lighting in the house and the stupidness of my camera flash

 

Now everyone cross your fingers it dries in time for me to frame it for Christmas!!

 





Procrastination and failure

Monday, December 3rd: A Lesson In Failure

I am a procrastinator. I have gotten every other art project done for Christmas gifts except one. The one I've been dreading. Logic would suggest to do the "big one" first and get it out of the way. Logic and I have been battling for the past 3 months. So instead of sitting down with my oils and brushes to do the "big one,"  I did all the fun, little holiday projects instead. Before I get too far ahead of myself, Let me start from the beginning...

Last year my soon-to-be mother-in-law commissioned me to do a painting for her. It is to be a painting of  Chimney Rock large enough to fit over the fireplace at the family cabin. I reluctantly said yes and have been putting it off for over a year now. I have 2 main issues with this piece of artwork. 1) it is large. I have never painted anything bigger then 11x14 so to look at a canvas that is 16x20 or large is daunting. That is a lot of white space to cover up.
2) Painting mountains is not a difficult task compared to other types of landscapes...painting Chimney Rock however is a challenge. I don't normally like to paint from photographs because I feel artistically restricted and obligated to make my painting look exactly like the picture. It NEVER turns out looking like the picture...ever. However, to make the Chimney Rock Painting look like Chimney Rock I have to paint Chimney Rock. I know that didn't make a whole lot of sense. In other words I need to paint from a photograph with as much accuracy as possible so I don't make Chimney Rock look like just another mountain. Its the focal point of the entire piece so I better get it right. That's a lot of pressure...pressure I've put on myself, but still. I have a fear of disappointing my "clients."

A month or so ago, after a 2 small scale and failed trial runs I sat down to take on this terrifying task with my over sized canvas, oils, and brushes and began to paint. I finished "a" painting but it wasn't "the" painting. I stood back and looked at my masterpiece and realized it sucked. Not just a little but a whole lot of suckage. Suckity, suck, suck, sucked. I scrapped it and vowed to start over. I decided the photograph I was using that I took this past summer was one of the main problems. It was a photo of Chimney Rock and the Selkirk Mountains from across the lake. The Rock was set in the background of Priest Lake and the mountains and forested hills that surrounded it sort of took away from the focal point. After scouring the Internet, family pictures, and personal pictures of that damn Rock, I pieced them together and sketched it out onto a fresh canvas. Where it has sat...for a month.

 

 Trial on canvas paper attempt #1. Apparently I forgot how to paint mountains.



 

Trail on canvas paper #2. Not AS bad but still full of suck.









Okay. Here it is. The reason I am starting over from scratch. 16x20. It. Is. Crap.

 

The new "big one" will be a totally different angle. It is a look from atop the ridge to the side of Chimney Rock as opposed to the view from across the lake.

I have failed at this 3 times now. If the 3rd time is a charm, what is the 4th time?

I refuse to give up

Wish me luck....I'm gunna need it.

 

Pinterest Inspired Ornament Wreath

I found these really cool looking Ornament wreaths on pinterest and decided to give it a try. I grabbed an old wire hanger out of my closet and shaped it into a circle (well mostly into a circle). I have some old ornaments that were too banged up and scuffed to go on the tree this year so they have been saved from the trash to be re-purposed into this little craft. I added a little bit of beaded snowflake garland to jazz it up but you don't need it. I think if I ever do this again I might add some ribbon (I'm out at the moment and didn't want to make a trip to the store).  I then busted out my handy-dandy trusty glue gun and went to work. It only took about 45 min total (including glue gun warm-up) to finish the wreath. Everyone should add this project to their list of stupidly easy craft projects. I'd say this is easy enough for a child to do but the hot glue gun would be a concern with young kids. Maybe a carefully supervised kids craft where the adult glues and the child arranges the ornaments. I'm sure you can use super glue or E600 for this project but it would take significantly longer due to the drying times of each piece.

Anyways...Here it is:




TA-DA!