memories in the making

dillon and i have really been trying to make a bigger and better effort to get to know people lately. i believe that everyone has a story to share and i have something to learn from every person i pass, every person i encounter, and every friend i have!... it's just a matter of getting to know that person well enough to learn their story! so, we've been seeking out new friends and been making some good memories! not going to lie, i get nervous going out on a limb at times, but it's ALWAYS worth it. i see things in people that i love, things that i want to emulate and bring into my character! it feels good to look for the good in people and to FIND it! it's a blessing to be surrounded by INCREDIBLE people! truly a BLESSING! i feel overwhelming love for my neighbors and friends and family. i am who i am because of them. thank you for sharing your personalities with me and my husband and for creating some FOND, to say the least, memories :) we are blessed.

matisse OHHH matisse

remember that one painting that i said i was going to have to recreate? the FANTASTIC still life by henri matisse? WELP i went at it today and have decided to call it good! upon beginning my matisse-experience, i started to notice ALL the colors... and i mean ALL of them! areas of the piece that seemed to be ONE color, upon closer examination, revealed themselves to be HUNDREDS OF COLORS! this guy truly believed in making a masterpiece SING with colors! in order to do this painting justice, to the best of my abilities, i decided i was going to have to crop it down to my FAVORITE square. i wanted to put down every color i could see and trying to do that with the entire painting would take weeks! so i've cropped it down and tried to simplify as much as possible! VERY HELPFUL :) 

here's matisse's original

here's my attempt at copying the genius of matisse

mission impossible

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! COME ONE COME ALL! i am in the process of attempting to do the near impossible! my skills will be put to the test as i whirl through paint strokes and textures seen in the traditional work of.... HENRI MATISSE!

i've been assigned to recreate a classic masterful painting by an artist of my choosing. sounds easier then done right?! i am a fan of modern art (MINUS all that dada NONSENSE work) so i chose to recreate a fauve artist's work, namely henri matisse! he was a WONDERFUL painter that focused on color. he had the mind set of art being "visual music". i LOVE that concept! it's just YUMO! :) 

so wish me luck as i embark on recreating this fantastic artist's painting, stroke for stroke, line for line, hopefully you can tell what it is by the end! AHH!

ART REPENTANCE

my teacher seemed to like my textured layered piece and i've decided that i like it too! it's a different look than what i'm used to but the technique produces some SUPER interesting things to look at, so i guess i'm a fan you could say! i was ULTRA impressed with all the pieces that the rest of my classmates made! this field is so competitive it's scary sometimes, but it's beautiful to see other people creating such LOVELY work! it's inspiring more than it is intimidating! and MOTIVATING definitely! so i went back and fixed up a couple of things that had been critiqued and i like it much better now! got rid of the distracting text and embellished a few more textures! VWAH-LA! :)

layered textures

this week's digital illustration assignment was to create an image that has multiple layers and LOTS of texture with some cool "layer modes". this was a particularly difficult assignment for me, because i am a SUPER structured artist! i have a hard time making spontaneous, zaney marks and that's what this assignment was ENTIRELY! it's good for me to experiment and get out of my box! so lesson learned! even if the image isn't so hot, i got my "texture jitters" out and tried something new! this piece was all in the name of experimenting!

hello goodbye autumn

a week ago I attended the general conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as I was standing around in Salt Lake City, waiting to get into the building, I thought to myself, "MAN OH MAN it's hot out here!" It was BLAZING like a furnace/oven/cocoa/FLAMBE! I was literally sweating (ew... that's kind of gross... don't judge!) ANYWAY i was hot, but i was also admiring all the LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS orange and red and golden leaves. i was so pleased to see color that is only around at this time of year! 

a week later, here i am back in rexburg idaho and we've had LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS rain! i am in love with the smell and the sight and the sound of rain. it is ULTRA relaxing and comforting to me! needless to say, i've enjoyed the last couple of days1 it's just begun to feel like my favorite time of year, autumn! :)

here it is, TODAY, not even a week since i was melting in salt lake city and WHAT?! we just had our first snow fall!!!! SNOW! IN OCTOBER! SAY WHAAAAT!? welcome to my life! i saw snow and literally thought i was in a nightmare! i love the snow, don't get me wrong, but i do NOT love the snow in early october! i suppose it will have to grow on me though! i'll just start singing "it's beginning to look a lot like christmas" a little bit earlier this year :) 

i'm grateful for weather, i'm thankful for hot and cold, i love the summer, i love the fall, and i... love the winter! OPTIMISM WILL GET ME THROUGH :) bring it on sky! let it fall! turn my nightmare into a winter-wonderland dream come true!  

thanks a lot sister whiting :)

once upon a time, my dear friend lauren whiting suggested that i check out this website that apparently has ALL things wonderful and good in this world! but this website is loved by just about every woman, girl, and child on the planet! 

i'm the kind of person that hates to fall in love with anything that EVERYONE else loves! when gauchos were a big deal, i was EXTREMELY hesitant to get involved with those parachute pants. as comfortable as everyone ranted and raved that they were, i couldn't bring myself to wear them! -until of course my mother brought me some home... and then i was OBLIGATED to wear them :)- when twilight was all the rage, i could not STAND twilight! everything about it! i thought that the storyline was over rated and the characters were LAME! i read one book and called it quits because i couldn't stand to be a "go-er with the flow-er"! 

now here i was, faced with this dilemma, do i become a so-called "pinner" or not. i was told that i'd love it, i was told that there was a plethora of incredible crafts, recipes and so on! AHH what to do!?!?...

i did it.... i joined pinterest.... HAPPY WORLD?! :) because I am! it was all that it was cracked up to be! this may be the first time that i feel happy about following the crowd! PINTEREST RULES :) 

this is halloween, HALLOWEEN, halloween

this week's project was to paint a pumpkin... but not just ANY pumpkin! that would be too simple! we were asked to create a TEXTURED pumpkin! this is surprisingly difficult for me! most of my work is either really flat and graphic or smooth and has minimal texture! i was struggling to think of how to apply a texture to this pumpkin! here was my best effort at throwing in some cool textures! i must say that i think i am most excited about painting pumpkins, not because of textures, but because that means it's HALLOWEEN! :) :) :) good times of frights and scares are on the way! let the heart racing and screaming begin!!! AAAHHHHH