The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions.

Good intentions are not enough. 

They've never put an onion in the soup yet.

Some projects are started with good intentions. Then they become tiresome, and you find yourself mentally preparing yourself to sit down and chip (slowly) away at said project. Such was the case for Rupert. Rupert was my first "commission based" painting. I say it was commissioned based, but it was really a gift for my boyfriends friend. I would consider it a commission however because he knew exactly what he wanted.

"Can you paint me a monkey smoking a cigarette with a top hat and a bow tie?" 

"OF COURSE!" I said. "NO PROBLEM!"

How ambitious I was. The only problem was that I had never painted a monkey before. Or smoke. Or...anything quite like Rupert. I sat in front of my blank paper with a dumb founded look on my face. "Start with the eyes" I told myself. Eyes are my favorite part of any painting, and if I get those right, than the rest is uphill from there. So that's what I did. I started on the eyes, but then found it taking almost a month to complete his face. I tortured my boyfriend daily telling him how frustrating it was to finish this painting. But I did not want to give up! I found the project to be one of the best learning experiences yet!

After the painting was finished I let out a huge sigh of relief, called up my boyfriends friend and told him it was done and ready to be hung up. My parents saw me work on the painting for almost 2 months, and my dad had come to love Rupert. It was one of his favorite paintings, and he tried to convince me not to give it up. After all that stress however, I was a little happy to see him go to a good home.

I'm proud to say that there hasn't been one single project yet that I've thrown out the window. There have been times where I've had to stop with a painting and just be satisfied with the end result (even though in my eyes it would never REALLY be completed). But I've never given up on a painting. There's always salvation for artwork. No matter how stressful, aggravating, or tiresome it becomes.

And if you're wondering where Rupert's hat went, well....I liked his bald little head a little too much to cover it up!

Creativity is Hereditary in our Family.

"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness."

I know I have mentioned in my past blog posts that I do not necessarily believe that people need to be born with creativity in order to be artistic. I believe with hard work and hours upon hours of practice, anyone can be called an artist. You are not born with the knowledge of how to play the piano. You learn it. Just like you learn creativity and inspiration.

That is not true with my family however. We were born with creativity running through our blood. Our parents saw that, and they nurtured and encouraged it. I would say that my sister was definitely born with more creativity than I. She can do anything. And I do mean ANYTHING. This girl has done everything from graphic design, to cake decorating, to painting and now sculpting. She does it all flawlessly, and absolutely effortlessly. She amazes everyone who sees her work. Aside from a few art classes here and there, no one in my family has ever gone to school to "learn art". It comes naturally for us. 

So here is an ode to my amazing sister! Who never ceases to amaze me!

For Christmas my sister made me an AMAZING knitting bowl. Yes ladies and gents, she HAND MADE this for me! His ears hold the needles and the yarn goes through his nose. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this! I can't wait to use it!!! 

My sister and both have this weird obsession with Alice in Wonderland. She made these two figures, one of Alice, and one of The Cheshire Cat. 

My sister made a Guardian Angel piece shortly after her car accident. The angel has wings which are real feathers.

For my Birthday I asked my sister if I could have the sea monster sculpture that she made! I was so happy when I opened the box to find it waiting for me! His eyes glow in the dark too!

My sister has more talent in her pink finger than most of my "art friends" combined. I don't know how she does it. Her pieces have been sold for hundreds of dollars at auction. I only hope that one day I can get to the level that she's at!

If you're interested in a commission piece feel free to contact my sister Tiffany and TLeef7@hotmail.com

Christmas Spirit

"Handmade presents are scary because they reveal that you have too much free time."

Contrary to the above quote, I really don't have that much free time on my hands. I work a full time job, I have two dogs to care for, I practically live between two houses right now. I have NO free time. But I think it is incredibly important to find time to do what you love. For me, I sacrifice a couple of hours of sleep every night to unwind from my day. I usually stay up until midnight zoning out in my artwork of crafting.

I love Christmas. For the past couple of years I've tried to make about 60% of my gifts. I think it's easy, and a bit of a copout, to go to the store to buy your gifts. Sure, you could buy someone a sweater that about 10,000 other people probably have. OR you could MAKE someone a sweater that no one else has! Now, I realize that most people aren't like me. I realize that most people would rather have the new hip gadget, or designer clothing. But screw everyone else!!!! I work hard at what I make. I put hours that turn into days into my gifts. I literally sometimes make myself bleed while making my gifts. I put my heart and soul into my handmade items.

This year Christmas snuck up a bit too quickly. I still managed to make a bunch of gifts for everyone, but definitely not as many as I'd like. My poor boyfriend felt neglected during the Holiday season from all the pinning that I was going on Pintrest! So here you have it! Here are only a few of my handmade gifts. I don't even think I had enough time to take pictures of everything, but you get the general idea.

The first thing I made was for all of my girls at work! This was super simple, and everyone seemed to love it. I made them a "goodie bag" which said "For Your Mistletoes" on it. Inside of the bag was a bottle of lotion and some nail polish. 

With a little bit of bargain shopping, the whole ordeal cost me less than $3/person. 

Next I made my sister a dream catcher. This was super simple and a lot of fun to make. I used an embroidery hoop wrapped in ribbon as the frame. Then I used a vintage doily and tied it around the frame...or maybe weaved it around the frame. Then I tied on some tassles with beads and feathers to it. I made one for my sisters meditation space. Then my nephew caught a glance of it before Christmas and insisted that I made him one. With orange ribbon and green tassles of course. 

Next I made the girls in my family a heating bag. Again, this was super easy. Minus trying to figure out the sewing machine which I never used before! For the record, I do not claim to know a single darn thing about sewing. I have never used a sewing machine before. I can barely sew buttons onto a coat. But I figured why not?! I bought some inexpensive fabric at the store and filled the sewn bags will uncooked rice (not that instant crap). Then for scent I added some crushed cloves. 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. If YOU made some handmade gifts, I'd love to know what they were! 

Always Attracted to the Strange

“... being different, being unique ... that afforded me a life, a journey that I am now so thankful for.” 

I love weird stuff. Maybe it's from growing up in a household full of antiques, creepy dolls, and paintings that follow you with their eyes everywhere you go. Maybe it's because "I want attention", or maybe it's just because I'm a self proclaimed non-conformist. Whatever the reason is, I love weird stuff. 

I don't think that always shows through in my art work. Most of my work is pretty generic in my opinion. Animals. We got that, right? But sometimes, I get this lightbulb idea and run with it. "Hmm I mean I could paint a cute fluffy happy looking dog. But no, I'm going to paint this sphinx cat. Because its ugly".

Here is the 3rd painting that I've ever worked on. The 3rd entry into my artistic adventure. I love him. Most of my family and friends who see this painting say that he's ugly. I don't care though. I put a lot of time and energy into him, and I think it shows. 

Things are Getting a Bit Fishy in Here!

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.” 

For anyone who's known me throughout my photography career, it's been no secret that I've always longed for a fisheye lens. When I started my adventure into the art of photography, I gathered the basics. A camera with an 18-55mm lens. Then ventured to a telephoto lens, then an off camera flash. I spent years building up my gear collection, but a fish eye lens always seemed out of reach for me. It was a bit too expensive, and wasn't very practical for the type of work I did.

But Christmas came a little early for me this year! My boyfriend got me a fish eye lens for Christmas! I was so ecstatic to open it and I've barely put it down since! So here is a blogpost full of ridiculous fish eye pictures, mostly of my favorite subjects! My Dogs!!! Enjoy!

Thank you so so much to my amazing boyfriend! You're my entire world and I could never thank you enough for all you do for me!

Merry Christmas everyone!! 

(Shove it to those "politically correct" douche bags that are now offended by me saying Merry Christmas!)