This check-in post was supposed to be about getting ready for the Boneyard Arts Festival, and the projects I was trying to finish for that, but of course so much has changed since the last check-in (or even since my last post, on Monday). The Festival, initially scheduled for April 2-5, has been postponed indefinitely, along with so many other things, and my library has closed through at least the first week of April. Our governor just issued a “shelter in place” order this afternoon (though I was already kind of doing that anyway) so I suddenly have a LOT of uninterrupted time for art.
I’ve been trying to think how to best take advantage of all this time. Last Sunday evening I wrote up another plan for a 4-day “art week,” for example, but I haven’t actually started it yet. I’m not really sure why. Maybe, since I don’t have anywhere to be until at least April 8 (when the current order expires), it doesn’t feel as urgent. Maybe it’s just harder to be motivated with all the background noise that is the Coronavirus news and updates. I haven’t been letting myself fall too far down that rabbit hole, though I do probably spend too much time on social media. I’m really very fortunate that I have a good-sized house to hole up in, and am still getting paid even though I’m not working. I also have plenty of art supplies on hand. I think part of me is just trying to pace myself a little. I’ve definitely been painting and working on creative projects every day.
Here are a few of them:
This is a scene I’ve painted before, though it was framed differently on the page. I wanted to try another colorful piece, though this one isn’t quite as loose and sketched as the Edinburgh city scene I did a year or two ago. I’m really happy with it so far. I plan to leave some of the details white but not as many as are now. (Eventually I’ll make a coloring page out of this drawing too, I think.)
This one you’ve seen before, if you’ve been following this series, but I’ve made a LOT of progress since then (it went from about 25% done to like 80% done). It’s mostly the foreground that needs work at this point, and I’ve got to decide if I want to add any more leaves to the tree. I’m not sure it needs more.
This last project is a little different; I painted some 7″ x 10″ watercolor washes (meant to look like various stages of sunsets) and had them printed onto cover stock paper, which I’ll add a simple ink drawing to, then fold into covers for small travel notebooks (they’re about 4.5″ x 6″). I finished two of them already (aside from my little cardboard prototype in the front there) and will probably list them on Etsy, along with my crystal stickers, in the next few days. I’ve also since painted a couple more cover washes in different colors, though I’m not sure yet if I like them enough to have them printed. What do you think? Any other color combinations I should try?
I hope that, if you’re reading this, you’re able to feel secure and find some peace in all the uncertainty that’s going on right now. I hope too that you can find a project (creative or otherwise) to help you keep your mind off of things if you need to.
P.S. Even though most libraries are closed now, a lot of them have online resources and apps that you can access to download ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and TV shows — it’s worth checking your library’s website, even if you don’t have a card, to see what they offer. (They might have a way to set up a temporary or digital access card online, too — ours does!)
Fairy Tree Studios 