Sometimes I just get lost.

Isn't this a nice sentiment? I found it on a stamp at Hobby Lobby.

Update 2023: quote by Elsie de Wolfe

     Every once in a while, even when things are going great in my studio, I begin to doubt myself and second guess everything I've chosen to do. This problem may be why artists are sometimes a little "out there," struggling with their emotions, dealing with addictions, and cutting off their ears.

     I'm currently working on two relatively large oil paintings. Larger paintings take me forever and often become tedious and sit in my studio unfinished for years. Why am I working large? I don't know. 

     I'm also currently working on a short story that was inspired by my experience with Absinthe. (See my old Absinthe blog for that). I'm over 3,000 words in and I don't have any idea if it's any good. If I give it to the right person to read they may sing my praises and swear it's a wonderful example of fiction and they're proud to know me. Another right person might say "well . . . I think you spelled everything correctly."

     The trick is to keep enjoying what I do. I refer back to the words at the top of this page. I make something pretty. I express my self doubt to my husband and he says . . . "Tracy, I think you should just keep doing your art 'til you die. You were born to be an artist." Support like that is not easy to come by. I am blessed.

     Below are a couple of the things I'm working on to keep it all fun.

A mask, still a work in progress, that I may use as a prop for one of my large paintings. I'm still trying to work out what exactly I want it to look like.

On my son's 25th birthday this year I talked him into this. What a trooper.

Below are the supplies I used.

Here's my model all vaselined up.

Strips being applied.

Finished with the application, I began to pray that this wasn't a horrible mistake, and that I'd be able to get my son safely out from under all of this.

A few struggles around the hairline and his mustache, but (thank you, God) he made it outta there. 

Here's one more fun project in the works:

I guess I'm not done making paper flowers. I saw something like this at JoAnn Fabrics when I was shopping with a couple of girlfriends last weekend. I bought myself a styrofoam cone and some more glitter and woohoo! Look at me making everything around me beautiful.

Before I go - here's the girlfriends I was shopping with (I'm on the right). 

We've been friends since elementary school - another of my many blessings.

Where do ideas come from?

     Where do ideas come from? (Or to be grammatically correct: From where do ideas come?).

If you're me, today, they come from your awesome new idea board! This is the same board that I used to decorate the reveal party backdrop (see my post 2 weeks ago). It's an insulation panel that I purchased from Lowes. A coat of white paint killed the green color, and I then covered it with inexpensive muslin, wrapping the material around the sides and pushing short nails into it to keep it in place. That easy. The insulation material is perfect for thumbtacks, pins, and small nails. No hammers needed. 

      Where do the ideas come from that I have pinned? Some of them are pieces I've done in the past that I've always felt I could do better. Some were saved in a large, Russell Stovers candy box (chocolates gone a long time ago), a shoebox, a recipe box, sketchbooks, drawers, and old photo albums. Ideas have come from thin air when I wasn't expecting them. They've come from reading, watching movies, flipping through magazines, noticing the way sunlight catches an object. They've come from paying attention. 

     When they come to you, capture them! Write them down on a piece of paper! Do a quick sketch! Record a note to yourself on your phone! 

     Then, someday, go around collecting all those things you've saved, weed through them, and buy yourself a piece of insulation board.