Loosening things up

I worked on something a little different today to loosen myself up to new creative ideas. I never want to get stagnant with my art. I always want to be growing and evolving. It's nice every once and a while to approach things a little differently than usual. 

I worked with a layer of watercolor washes to create the colors first. Then went over the linework with ink, finally filling in the negative space with black ink.

This is still a work in progress but I wanted to share my process for this piece.

What's your favorite way to shake up your creative process? 

Reaper

I'm currently working on some new projects to showcase what my art will look like on products. I have a reaper drawing that I plan on putting on a mock-up for a skateboard. 

this is my sketch of the reaper drawing I am working on. I took the sketch and scanned it on to my my computer and I'm currently doing the linework in Illustrator.

I don't usually work digitally so this is a chance to give me more practice and get me out of my comfort zone.

Springtime blues?

It's technically spring now but we are still getting snow here in New York. I've had the winter blues pretty bad this winter and I have been struggling to create new inspired peices.

Sometimes it's hard to remember to be kind to yourself and let the creativity flow when it wants to. Nothing ever comes from forcing yourself to create. That has been my experience at least. 

Here is something new I have been working on. This is a lot larger than the pieces I have worked on in the past. It's helping to shake things up a bit. 

Always looking for inspiration

All around me. I live in a very rural area at the moment so most of my inspiration comes from nature.

I like to take walks through the woods and find interesting plants that I've never seen before.

Inspiration can come when you least expect it so always keep an eye out. It's always to get out and get away from projects in order to come back with fresh eyes.

What do you do for inspiration? 

Focus

I always seem to have a bunch of projects I'm working on all at the same time. I feel like if I don't start right away on ideas, they will fizzle out before I get a chance to make them. I don't like the feeling of having ideas that I can't get out.

Sometimes it seems to take me take me a long time to finish projects because I only get to work on projects for small amounts of time because I spread it between a bunch of projects.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions for remedies? 

Mother nature series

I am currently working on some commissions as well as continuing work on my mother nature series. 

Here is a little peek at that. 

Continuation

As I said before, I always enjoy learning new things and I love to create. My current project where I am combining new mediums that are new to me, is progressing nicely. Here are some progress shots.

The body is coming together well. 

The feet/ankle sculpt is sewn to the legs

The face is now glued on to the body

I made a little pouch in the bottom that I filled with rice to make it so it was possible to have the doll sit without extra support. All that's left now is to fill the rest of the doll and sew the bottom closed. 

Is anyone else working with new mediums in the new year?

Put Some Pep In Your Step

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts during my commute (the usual) and I have to say, I'm really loving this one called "Creative Pep Talk."

If you haven't heard of it before, Creative Pep Talk, a podcast all about helping creatives to thrive in their creative field. It is filled with tons of practical tips on how to grow as an artist. It has been a great inspiration to me lately whenever I get really unsure about my art career.

If you ever need some inspiration you should check it out!

Learning new things in the new year

It's always fun and exciting for me to learn to use new mediums to create art with. Currently, I have begun working with sculpey more often to create new projects with. It's always challenging working with a new medium but that's often the fun of it. I always love creating.

I have also been teaching myself how to sew and I am currently combining the two mediums to create a soft body sculpture.  

It's always important to free yourself up and explore different mediums. You never know what will come of it. Being able to explore and be loose with my creativity always seems to breed more creativity for me. 

 How have you been cultivating creativity in the new year?

New work

I just finished this piece. It is colored using markers, which is not a medium I usually work with but I have been enjoying them lately.

modern witch with familiar

More new work will be coming soon.

Work in progress

I'm currently drawing all my shaman series and once that is done I will move on to painting them with watercolors. I have three of them drawn so far. I am hoping to get at least five done in the next two months. 

A work in progress shot from my upcoming shaman series.

In May of this year, I will be having a price in the show at Le Pain Quotidien in Central Valley, New York. I am still waiting on the details for the theme and any restrictions that they have prior to starting but I am hoping to do a large percentage for the show (around 18X24) and I can't wait to get started.

2017 is going to be a great year for me to grow as an artist and improve my work. 

Moving into the new year

It's been a while since I've updated my blog but I would like to be more active with it in the new year. 

Right now I am beginning work on a shaman series. Along with the drawings I am learning about shamanism to explore another side of my spirituality. Through this drawings I hope to further connect with my spirituality.​

work in progress shot from spirit animal series.

I am also starting a series of spirit animal paintings. It is my vision of animal dieties that dwell in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic jungle where plants have begun to take over the land once again and jungle reigns. 

Let's all make 2017 an amazing year for everyone. 

Todays doodles

Halloween is quickly approaching and I'm getting inspired! 

Working on a monster zine

here is a preview of one of the illustrations I made for it.

These are some of my digital doodles from this morning. I did these to get my creative juices flowing.

Showing a piece at the Blick Mother's Day art show

If you live near Paramus, NJ head on over to Blick and check out one of my pieces I have on display. It's going to be up from May 2nd to May 9th. 

Self Portrait

Illustrator Fun!

I haven't used Adobe Illustrator in a very long time but I was messing around with it today and this is what I ended up with.

Drawings!

I have been doing a lot of new drawings here that I will be posting to the site in the next couple days. They are a definitely less abstract than the drawings that I have done in the past. It seems like I'm moving toward something new. Stay tuned for those drawings. For now, here are a couple small drawings that I have done recently.

April Fools!

I hope everyone made it through today without being tricked! I stayed inside for most of the day but I did get rick rolled....

Anyway, I really enjoy working with many different materials so today I was drawing in my sketchbook with crayon. 

It's important (at least for me) to have fun while creating art. If I'm too focused on what the end result is going to be then I get stiff about the whole thing. It's kind of like life when you think about it. The more you want things to go a certain way the less open and fun the experience is.