At The Threshold: A Study In Blue

For some reason, lately I have been attracted to bursts of color. Last week it was yellow. This week, blue. And they have been colors that I normally don't use in my work or at least not as a predominant color. I've been noticing blue everywhere! Blue just pops out at me. So I decided to do a blue collage. I'm not feeling blue, just attracted to the color. I call this "At The Threshold: A Study In Blue" because I still feel I'm at the threshold of breaking through and finding my "voice" in my art. Does that make sense? You can click on the image to get a (much) larger view.

I'm exploring Photoshop brushes, too. I've been shying away from these only because I have convinced myself that they are too complicated and I really don't understand how they work, how to load them correctly, how to make my own custom brushes, etc. But I have seen some awesome work on other people's blogs using brushes and I just feel left out! ;) So, I decided to give it a whirl one more time. I had better luck loading some that I found on the web. I'm just not sure if they'll be there the next time I go looking for them! I'm still experimenting with making my own.

I'm still reaping the benefits of the Artist's Happiness Challenge course. This week, aside from the challenge to make a piece of gratitude art (see previous post), a mini-challenge was to "embellish your life" a little bit. This could be as simple as burning some nicely-scented candles, taking a bubble bath, or sprucing up your living area with art that makes you happy. Anything, really, that pleases you and adds just that extra touch to your daily life; especially in your living space.

I already burn scented candles every evening. I'm working on making some art pieces to hang in the living room. It's about time to bring out those special canvasses that I've been saving for ... what, exactly, I don't know. They certainly aren't going to paint themselves! And I've been snipping away at a huge pile of magazines I've been saving for collage fodder. Images everywhere!!

But now I must finish the project I committed to and have to have in the mail by Monday's deadline: my paper dolls. Normally I love working on dolls. If you know me, you know that's true. This batch ... I don't know what the problem is. I wonder why it is that I always want to work on other projects when I know I have a deadline on the horizon? It seems that I don't get inspired or "in the zone" until I'm backed right up against the deadline. I do have one doll finished, a second one about 85% complete and the third one sketched out. Let's see what being backed in the corner does for me today. Stay tuned...