I had a fellow art teacher ask me about this whole daily art thing...and I said I would write a blog post. And I did.  Well...I started it. Then I let myself get caught up with mid-term exams, holiday shopping, Christmas...and finally the excitement of NYE and knowing that I had completed another full year of making art.   But I never 'finished' that document...but here is what I started; Click here. (Beware, it's in 'Jenny-speak'...which means it is all over the place!)

One thing I constantly beat myself up about (and also relish)  is my own self-imposed organization and inventory of my work.  This is something that I have been doing just for me but now I am actually in the process of doing for Gallery 2014 (Miss Sharon...I am working on it!) .  The first year I did the CED Challenge I created an on-line document, kind of a catalog of my work.  (CED2012-JLG Artwork) I remember staying up working on that document for a frenzied couple of days...the final day I didn't go to sleep, finished the document then drove to the beach to watch the sun rise.  Awesome, right?  The only thing is I feel like I should have done that every other year, too...and I havent'...so then I get kinda bummed out.

Maybe I will make a document at some point for 2013 and 2014...but for now I just made a big ol' mosaic of images...this is most of the work, not all of 'em...and ya gotta look really close because there are some mosaics within mosaics...but most of the daily work is there.  

Most of it ;)

Santa baby...yer done.  The Santa's Helpers series I mean.  And while we're at it- 2014, too...well, almost!

I am going to post a separate post about this past year of making art every day...but for now, I want to just write a little bit about the series I just finished...My goals for this series were to maintain cohesion within the pieces, I think that I stuck to that.  That being said, I kind of wish I would have developed the girls more, some kind of transformation...but then it would not have the overall cohesion that I originally wanted.  And that is something that I am working towards in my daily art, to hopefully work towards some larger goals that I have for my work.

I haven't really done a great job keeping my blog up to date, relying on my Instagram images to fill in the blanks and show my works in progress and random creative happenings.  For the most part, I have made myself be at peace with this, but I do feel bad when I neglect my blog...this is part of my documentation process and therefore part of the art making for me.  So I am going to work on that...but for now, here are the remaining pieces in the series, including the one for December 31, 2014:

One reason that I didn't keep up with the blog is...well...Christmas break.  John and I did some traveling while we were home, spent time with friends and family.  I actually let myself get some rest and I am pretty excited about that.  I made my daily art during this time, but nothing extra.

Well...except a commission that I delivered before I left for NC...and I am happy to report that the client(s) loved it!

Okay...that's it for now...more tomorrow...errr...I mean later today :)

It's been a minute...been busy with school, some mild ailments, and working on inventory for Gallery 2014...which, turns out is a HUGE task.  

One thing that I want to revisit (because it related to something in today's post)... some paintings I made over Thanksgiving break for my sister-in-law, Maria.  The aunts hosted a baby shower for her and I made some custom paintings to match her super-cute bedding.  The paintings might look a little plain right now, but once she announces her daughter's name I am going to either paint the initials on the paintings...or have some vinyl cut to apply to the paintings. (Dear Giselle, if you are reading this I love you....ummmm...maybe I can bribe you to help me?)  Right now I am thinking that whichever route I go with the lettering I want to use a deep pink/magenta, in a curly, fun font.

Which brings me to another mom-to-be...John's cousin, Krista!  There was a baby shower for her yesterday and once again, one of the gifts from me was custom art!  Her baby shower was definitely south Florida style, ocean-front view in an amazing clubhouse.  Not only was the baby shower Noah's Ark-themed, but that is also the theme for their nursery.  They also picked out really cute bedding for their little boy's nursery, so once again I created some custom artwork.  I pulled some of the animal images from the picture of the bedding on-line.  I like the little canvases that I painted the animals on- they are small square canvases that can be hung or even stacked liked blocks.  For Krista's paintings I had thought about adding initials (...their lil' boy will have FOUR initials!) but I decided against any lettering, that way she can have more options for how to display the paintings.

Turns out...even though I have been on a really weird schedule this weekend (PM naps, waking up at 9-10pm, staying up til 3AM) so far I have been pretty productive.  Every once in a while I treat myself to some new canvas- last week I bought this awesome square assortment of five canvases (MAJOR sale!) so I started some paintings on those in the wee hours Friday night/Saturday morning.  Seems like whenever I work with a monochromatic palette I always opt for blue...and I probably had blue on my mind with the baby shower the next day...regardless, four blue paintings are in-progress...hopefully I will get those finished up today or this week and also start/finish the last canvas, which is the smallest one in the grouping. When I started the first painting (the largest one) I was thinking ice/snow queen.  Then as I worked I began thinking about 'snow angels'. Doubt I will be making any of those down here in Florida but when I was a kid I remember making them when it snowed.  Of course I am focusing more on the angel herself rather than the print.

Side note, the only thing that folks don't talk about with snow angels...when you get up your whole backside is soaking wet (if you had wet-NC snow!) ....then you are FREEZING! Brrrrr! 

Just some (random) thoughts I had while I worked on those.

Also on Saturday, I sat down to work on my daily art and catch up on some episodes of Project Runway All-Stars. While I was working I felt the urge to work on a fashion illustration...it's actually the first and only one I had made this year which is weird because for the past two years I have made about a hundred each year.  I am not sure why I never did this year...but I may try to get a few done before the end of 2014...stay tuned...

I try not to stress too much, telling myself that I can go back into any piece any series at any time....I don’t do much pre-sketching- I always just go for it...so these can either be finished pieces or small pieces that maybe one day may become something else, like a larger artwork.  So for now they are just a series of pictures that I like and I figure it I make 28-30 of something I am bound to a have something good in there.

But ending the series is still tough, when I first started this this Creative Every Day thing I was VERY strict on myself, requiring that the piece be started and finished on the same day, even stressing out if it was finished after midnight.  I have gradually eased up a little, and with my mixed media work I allow myself to do the drawings each day and then revisit the mixed media part when I have several pieces started, largely because I make a mess when I do collage work...and also to maximize dry time.  

Only problem is sometimes I let too many build up and then it adds stress.

So that is the update.  Posting the final angels soon.  In the meantime I just wanted to share a few pics from my visit with granny over Thanksgiving.  My students made a whole bag full of cards, Thanksgiving, Birthday, Christmas- all kinds of fun cards and even some pilgrim hats!  I took these with me and the residents were all really happy to receive them.  So proud of my students, sharing their heARTs with others :)