These trail notes are a little bit late but at least I have remembered to update the art journey from the last week. After realising I had forgotten to take paintings to the Camden Art Prize last week I had a bit of a low. I was very much looking forward to that art prize and I took it harder than I should have when I didn’t enter. However, after a day or two I managed to feel less annoyed and got on with the business at hand. Valleys along the way are part of the journey.
To start off the week I spent time separating out my artwork into piles. One pile was already listed as for sale (on this site) and the other was a pile of what I can list.
I then listed three paintings on ArtFido here. I haven’t had any interest as yet but in many ways that exercise was more about me gaining confidence to list and price paintings on a public site. Selling art would be a fantastic milestone in this journey but I don’t think ArtFido is the way to go for great success in this area. It will do for now though.
I then used some of the painting resources I’d gathered during our trip away the other week and did two very small paintings:
The second one is not yet complete but I will have these for sale at some point. Always feel free to make an offer.
One exercise I did this week was to print out small versions of almost every painting I’ve done in the past 15 months or so. The top half is from last year and the bottom half is these past few months. I really wanted to see whether there had been consistency of palette, style and subject or whether there is one particular subject, theme or style I should pursue more than others. I haven’t spent a lot of time sorting through this as yet. If you have any ideas on the answer to that, feel free to leave comments below.
The weekend was spent at home due to two reasons, rain and hubby being away. The girls and I had a bit of a painting afternoon in the studio and they got to work on their own designs. This got me really thinking about teaching art again.
I started another painting which I hope to get to a position where I am happier with the end result. I am reasonably happy with it but I need to work more on softening the face and eyes.
I can see what needs to be done on this particularly around the eyes and brows so will hopefully get it finished soon. I am enjoying this softer way of working too.
Finally, I have been considering giving private art lessons for groups of adults and kids for a while now. I used to do this in my home years ago and then when we spent a year in West Africa doing mission work I taught at a school (grades 1-12). I have plenty of resources and experience so now its time to put it together. Problem was, I couldn’t find my old files. These are like gold to me, full of notes, lesson plans, resources and term plans. Prayed about it and then I found them deep in the shed!!
I have put together a lesson plan for art basics and hope to run the classes from next term. I just need to advertise and get my working with children card organised.
So that’s it for the last week and a smidge. I have enjoyed the journey out of the valley. Valley’s are important, they give you a totally different perspective (looking up can either be daunting or challenging).
By the way, if you have read this and enjoyed it, I would love to have a few comments. I have been posting the trail notes now for just over two months and am yet to receive one comment. Us introverts need comments!!
“The road goes ever on and on”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Amanda
