Sorry I Left You Hanging

So sorry I left you hanging on the painting. I have done alot of work on it in the past few days, but have not had the chance to upload picutres and blog. Life has been incredibly busy lately.
So here is update pic #1. I put in the background, with the help of my lovely friend Shaina, a pattern. Yes, it is a paper pattern. I have been using these a lot in my art lately, and I LOVE them. They give color, design, direction, and interest with very little work. I simly put clear gesso on the areas that I wanted the pattern to stick. Then I stuck the pattern to the canvas, trimmed the edges and put more clear gesso on top of it to keep it from ripping anywhere.


So I started on the face. It is still prett rough and needs so much more work, but I'm excited to see where it's going. I have been told many times that when you paint a face there should be blues, greens, purples, reds, yellows, and skin tones. I have yet to figure out how to do this. But I am going to give it a shot in this painting. I am going to put colored glazes over the face after I have done all of the skin tones. Hopefully I don't ruin the whole thing by doing so. We will see.
Gotta love experimentation.
Here is a close up of the face.
Okay, now for the fun part. I made stamps, then stamped the canvas. I still don't know if I like it. I have put black over all of the colors except the white and red. The plan right now is to stamp the entire back ground. I'm still not sure what the pattern will be, or what colors will show up. So many options. I really don't like it right now, but I think I can salvage it.
Here is a close up of the stamps that I made and stamed onto the canvas. You can also see the pattern paper better.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Oh To Create

I am working on a new painting right now. It feels so good to be working on a new piece. I decided that instead of finishing the whole thing, I would update you on my progress as I work. I know that this may irritate some of you, like Suzanne. If that is the case, I am very sorry. Just don't look as my blog for the next couple of weeks until I am done.

Here is the image that I am painting from. Below is the first day's progress. All together I think I worked for about 2or 3 hours, but a lot of that is setting up. I probably only painted for about 1 1/2 hrs.

These are pictures of me in my class in South Dakota a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the first piece that I carved and printed. I think I spent about 1 hr carving this plate.
This is the second piece that I carved and printed. I spent about 8 to 10 hrs carving this one.
Here is the sketchbook that I made. I am so proud of this! I cut and sewed and glued all of this myself. So cool..... Awesome.

Practice Husband

So I have fears about marriage. Shocking I know...

I worry about things like, what if I get married and it goes totally wrong and my husband becomes a drug adict?

What if after being married for a while we just get bored of each other?

What if the guy I marry is a terrible leader and I struggle with being submissive?

Dear Lord...What if one of us commits adultery? Yikes

Some of these are irrational, maybe. Some of them I think are legitimate. These aren't all of them. I'm sure I could come up with a very extensive list. 

But the Lord in his infinite wisdom decided to give me a Practice Husband to dispel some of my fears. And to teach me how to fight well and seek the Lord to heal my wicked heart, instead of trying to fix the other person. Easier said than done!

So my Practice Husband just happens to be my sister, Suzanne. We live in a little house that we love. It's just the two of us. We couldn't be more different, and growing up we never got along. We used to wake up fist fighting when we shared a bed at a young age. I am the artist, disorganized, messy, procrastinator, terrible at cleaning and budgeting, and I am very emotional. Suzanne is the type A, organized, get things done, planner, and is very practical, not very emotional. I know you may be having a tough time imagining the issues that might arise between the two of us, but I promise you we have had our differences. 

We moved in together and had our nice honeymoon period. We got along, talked all the time, and never fought. That was nice, but quickly ended. We soon discovered our differences in personality, cleanliness, and the different things that really bother us. We fought for a good 3 months straight at least. We are both in Recovery at the Village after all of it. We very glaringly saw our flaws and our need to draw close to the Lord to be healed. We both had to learn to deal with each other with grace, love, patience, and servant's hearts. It's been a hard road, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We still have our differences, arguments, and frustrations, but we know how to deal with each other well. We now have a blast living together. I'm always excited to get home to hang out with Suzanne. We have more and more fun every day. It's so beautiful to see the relationship that God has blessed us with. It has given me a deep confidence in the Lord to bless me with an awesome Husband and a great relationship. One where we enjoy each other more all the time. 

So moral of the story... have a Practice Husband!  They are fantastic.

Can I Go Home Now?

I am so very ready to come home!

 My class is going really well. I have made a bound book. I have finished carving 2 plates to print. I'll be printing this afternoon, and will hopefully make another book tomorrow. 

Other than that, it's not so fun. I have gotten sick in the past two days. It's a very strange sickness thought. It sneak attacked me yesterday afternoon. I felt great this morning, and now I feel bad again. Ugh.

My Mom, little Sister Kathryn (Happy Birthday Sister!), and my Grandmother are all at my house right now. I so want to be able to hang out with them this week. They are going to Canton. I can't believe I'm missing that. Canton is like my crack. However, it's probably good for my wallet that I'm not going. 

Thankfully I will be home on Saturday, probably very late. I don't mean to be a complainer, I'm just bored. 

I would tell you a funny story or something, but I got nothing. I'm hungry now and have to be back to class in a bit. So i'll leave now.