Under Lavender Skies

I know some people who have said they vehemently hate social media. My Dad once said, and I quote, "social media is the root of all of your problems," well okay..  here are my thoughts.   I don't exactly agree, I believe social media is one of the many things that is bad for you in excess-and it's really easy to get to and past that point with it. I believe there's more to it though. Aside from using it too much and doing things like comparing yourself to someone else (bad) I think it can be a cool tool for artists or people wanting to share their craft (good). And that's what it seems like at first but, yet again, on the other side of it can be a distraction from what you'd really want to create. There is so much going on online, constantly people are posting things, really cool things often times but it can get confusing. It can be hard to remember to create what you really care about rather than trying what you find cool online, it migh...

I am a busy gal and I haven't had time to write anything this week, though have lots in progress, but here's an oil painting I finished awhile ago. 

Happy Monday!   I'm a fan of making themed art, drawings that go along with a certain song or story. Originally this started out as practice for drawing people in interesting poses but I added the quote and color and I like how it turned out. 

Happy Monday and happy Halloween everybody!  This story doesn't really have to do with Halloween... but it's been awhile since I've posted a short story and I think this one is fun.  :)  I hope you like it.   The End of the World My clock stopped working. It was such a mundane, frustrating start to the day – a day that ended up being one of the strangest yet. I hit the clock a couple of times over the head but no rattling could snap it out of its stupor. It was a couple years old anyways, buying a new one wasn't the issue. What made me stop and late for work, was why? There seemed to be no logical reason for the clock to stop. It was plugged in, the extra emergency batteries were perfectly in place, and I knew the power hadn’t gone out because the time on the stove was ticking as normal. The clock was tired of ticking, I suppose that's the only answer though I can't be sure how logical, it's a lifeless object after all.  Being tired of ticking is a relata...

  As many of you might know, this semester I started taking classes at TCC (Tulsa community college), as an art major. So far it hasn't been too eventful, I am only in the basic drawing foundations class. Even yet I think I've learned bunches, a lot about proportions, shading, art elements, composition, and what generally makes a piece well done. Today I am going to be sharing something that sounds small but makes a large difference. And that is value (as you've probably gathered from the title) but also the contrast of and using a wide range of values. It's the final step of a "simple sketch" that can make it more than that. Even when drawing a still life...you can lie (essentially), though it's not called that, it's called taking artistic liberties. Here is an example using a drawing of my cat, sweet Mr. Edison. It's simple but I am using it because the idea of this post came from this drawing. I drew it in one sitting (I was really jus...

Recently I have been *attempting* to delve more into self portrait drawings of the quick sketch kind and I think I've figured something out.  That is that drawing myself makes me feel more beautiful.   For a bit it takes my mindset out of critical thoughts, to an artists mindset, relating to myself.   I have this idea that every human on this earth is really quite beautiful.  It's an idea that has often excluded myself.  Everyone is beautiful because everyone is art.  It sounds the tiniest bit silly and impossible writing it here but I guess you're just going to have to trust me.  Often times when I see a person or a place I think of it as a painting or art piece.  Most people - to societal's crap standards - are very imperfect but very beautiful I say.  Someone's bowlegged stance is a rough sketch, barely there, a scar from nose to lip indicating a past cleft lip is a thick brushed ink portrait, and a crooked smile so big the eyes ...

 Hmmn... maybe I should think up titles for my sketch book pages like this one, and the one I posted last week, so it's not possibly titled: "Some *more* *more* art to share" next week.  If you have any ideas, what would you name this one?  :D I had fun with this piece but also have some issues with it.  I wanted to try something new so I only used a pen and then very minimal colored pencils and while I don't think it looks terrible it's not a style I'm planning to adopt.   The quote I used on this page is:  "You lost what you had but now you have what is worth it."   Now part of me thinks I just made it up because that's what I know but another part of me thinks I heard it (or something similar) somewhere and I can't for the life of me remember where.  It's also too vague and quotable for it not to have been said before.   Thanks for reading! Leave your thoughts in the comments below!  ✰✰✰  

   I finished up this piece with the color in the background along with inking in the quote.  As I wrote it all I knew was that I wanted there to be an element of "movement," though the poses, the flow of the letters, and the content of the words.  I think I captured that.    Combining art and writing is one of my favorite things.  I know in terms of writing here there isn't much but I think the words, along with the color, are what takes this a notch past a simple sketch.       Thoughts?  Thanks for reading!

Honestly I hate how the phrase "you might have noticed that I missed and didn't post last week," is becoming more and more frequent but it is. I want to like what I post and sometimes I'm busy and don't have the drive to create for this space along with everything thing else. Saying that, I'm making and have ideas for some pretty cool things right now.  Please enjoy this short comic illustrating some of my recent thoughts.  Here are the words just incase it's too small to read on the page:  Chasing sunsets.. like chasing beauty in life. Living moment to moment waiting for the next thing to live for, the next thing that's really worth it. But what happens in the moments in-between? What happens when the fire dies when the coffees cold, after the sun set but before the stars come out.  How do we learn that it all has value? that there really is a point to it all the mundane in-betweens, that is not just waiting for the next good thing?    How...

Hey everybody!  I didn't want to miss another week, I've been a bit busy recently, so here are some sketches I made awhile ago.  I think they turned out pretty good and I hope ya like them!  Have you seen the hobbit? Do you have a favorite dwarf?  

How do you add an interesting twist to an otherwise normal sketch?  A colorful background. Give it a try. 

I hope the pictures aren't too small and that you can still read the poems!  Let me know if you've read any of these before, I think they are all pretty unique and bizarre at points but that's also part of the beauty of it.  At the moment I'm having such a hard time figuring out what to post on here, it seems like ages since I posted a true post and not a  simple poem or art piece, I suppose that could be a true post but it feels a little different to me. Let me know what you think and if you have any topics I could write about!  

 I've been waiting a little while to share this one because I wanted to make a art piece to post along with it.  Maybe you'll see one in a couple weeks. This story started with the idea to make a collection of stories all around the theme, "collection." I've always liked the idea of collections, I've collected many things over the years, when I was young I collected keys, old and unused or just lost keys I found random places (I got up to 12). Some of the stories I have written, of plan to, are strange like this one (certainly more strange than keys), some are metaphorical, some are serious and a little more normal.  P.S. this story isn't true, and it also is really short and could almost be described as more of a character sketch, or a another character's journal entry, than a story.  Let me know what you think!  Did you collect any strange or normal things as a child or now? Comment below!  A Tooth’s Story  My mouth was bleeding, bleeding because I w...

  You know, I don't think I'm a bad writer but I've never thought of myself as amazing, I think I'm just alright.  And I think that's ok, I have so much to learn that's for sure.  Art of any type (I think writing is a form of art), is so subjective and I try to keep in mind that even if I'm able to get published and known through my writing I'll never be good, at least not to everyone.  Of course that means I will be good or even great to others.  But also, please don't tell me if you hate something I make.  Right now in my life I am writing and making things that I like and enjoy making and it's what's keeping me going.  I mean if I like it there's a chance someone else will too.   Still, it's nice to hear it, that my writing is good every once in a while, from someone other than my mom (love you so much mom). I'm currently almost finished with a 4 week writing class, which I've really enjoyed and wish was longer.  The first ...

 A Poem About Clouds  Today, I point out, the clouds Are wispy and quick across the sky. I know it's been said before, And that many think the same, But I adore clouds. The way they are never the same At times, Hardly touching the corners of the sky At others, Taking it over completely. This is a mostly pointless poem about The sky — but also I often wish I could pull myself up, On one of those days when the clouds cover the sky, And walk around up there for a little bit, In a completely new world Just for a little bit. My life seems to be changing fast, And flitting across the sky like the Clouds today. I have decisions to make and things to do And I'm not sure why it's so difficult to get myself to do them, but it is, And instead I write this poem. I want the clouds to be still And slow. Maybe tomorrow, Maybe then it'll be easier to handle. Or a tomorrow soon after that. It has to be. abby m.