Finished: Bluebird

This experiment is official complete. I set out to see what would happen if I mixed water color and pastel. Over all I'm pretty happy with the results. The most import thing, other than it being finished, is what I learned along the way -

1. Have a plan. I struggled with when to call this "done" because I didn't set out with a clear idea of where I was going and what I wanted to achieve. It was an experiment, but because I didn't start out with any end goal in mind, I ended up feeling lost about three quarters of the way through. 
2. Don't wait to long. I let quite a bit of time go between when I started this and when I got around to finishing it. I lost my momentum and excitement for the project and to me that translates in the finished work.
3. Dont use old fixative. Unless you really like that splattered look you see above. Adds to the vintage feel I guess.

A Love Like No Other?

One of the things that's been on my mind lately is how to love like Jesus. Now I realize that this probable sounds pretty cliche, but if Christians are supposed to be identifiable by they way that we love, I'm thinking it's a pretty important thing to figure out.

I have had a few interesting insights recently when examining the way that I show love, but I have also had a few impactful conversations with people I care about that have described how they have been shown "love" by other Christians. All I can say is that it shouldn't be a big shock that the word "Christian" leaves a bad taste in so many mouths. Loving selflessly can be a tall order, but common decency shouldn't be. It's not loving to tell someone that they or their loved ones are going to hell.

It makes me so sad that countless people that need the life altering love of Jesus are pushed away by hateful actions from those that should know first hand, what love looks like. I know we are all people, and people are flawed and make mistakes, I know I have made countless, but on behalf of all those "Christians" that have said or done hateful things, I would like to say I'm sorry and to let you know that it was not an example of what Jesus is all about.

People are not perfect, but as Christians, God's love should still be evident in our lives. I pray that if you have ever had a poor experience with a follower of Jesus, God would bring someone into your life that is a true example of His love.

Very Sincerely,
Kristen

Work in Progress: Mirabelle

A friend recently asked me to sketch up a design for a new tattoo and let me just tell you, this was a lot more challenging then I thought it would be. I LOVE detail but in this case, the details will be the job of the tattoo artist. I kept having to go back and take out more and more detail :(

To make me feel a little bit better about the finished artwork I decided to make a second piece, detailed the way I see fit. I'm working on a gray, lightly textured, paper with a set of neutral colored charcoal pencils. Not sure I love the detail I'm getting but I'll stick with it and see how it comes out.

Expectations

Lets get real for a second, what expectations do you put on yourself? Are they realistic? Do you under value your potential or expect way more of yourself then any sane person would? The follow up question to that is (and this is a big one), how can you shift your expectations to something healthily? 

I definitely find myself in the latter category. So what would healthy look like to me? Healthy expectations would drive me to be better, but still allow me to recognize my acomplishments for what they are. 

I really wanted to start and finish a painting of some kind this weekend. I choose to paint a simple drawing of my dog on some wood I found at work. It was critical to me to finish something this weekend, and I did. I see so many problems when I look at it, but it's finished. I expected myself to do a better job, even though I have no training with Acrylics and have hardly any experience painting. Why? Why on earth do I have such unrealistic expectations for myself?

I don't have any answers yet believe me, but a friend recently showed me a quote from Ira Glass and it was encouraging to know that at least I wasn't the only one that struggled with these types of questions. Maybe it will encourage you too.

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

― Ira Glass