The Store is Open!

It's finally official!

For all of the doubters who were beginning to think that I was only bluffing: it's finally here.

One of my resolutions for this year was to finally open an art store. The plan was to open when I had a little more time over spring break, but the learning curve was a little curvier than I had expected.

I've been in my current house for five years, and I think I have just this year finally gotten my art studio set up in a way that is conducive to easily create art. Without a space where I am able to simply sit down and begin creating with minimal set up, It's actually very difficult for me to find the motivation to create anything. 

I also now have the equipment and Adobe skills to be able to create my own small (8.5"x11" and smaller) prints from home.

Something that I struggled to find was a way to digitize my larger pieces of artwork. I tried taking photos with my DSLR, and I'm sure there is a way to take excellent quality photos of my artwork that could be used as prints. However, I learned that this is not a part of my current skill set.

After asking around and doing some research, I was able to find a great place that was actually in my neighborhood that digitizes artwork of any size. 

Because I have to pay for a service (which I am willing to do because they did a great job!), it will be a while before I have a lot of paintings available digitally. I currently only have my two newest large paintings digitized but will definitely have more in the coming months.

What I'm Currently Working On

Throughout my adult life, I've had to constantly remind myself to do things that I want to do rather than what I think is expected of me. I constantly have to reevaluate whether or not I am doing something because it is in line with my desires, beliefs, and values or if it is because of some kind of irrelevant set of rules that I am placing on my self.

With art, I often think that I am supposed to create a certain kind of oil painting or artwork, and this certain kind of oil painting or artwork is often boring for me.

Sometimes we have to create art that we don't necessarily want to make for a commission. But what I love about art is the fun, playful, and creative exploration. When I approach my art as playful or explorative, then I create more artwork.

In my painting world, I've been very interested in mountains and trees in mist.

I've also started to draw more often. In many ways, drawing is much easier when it comes to setting up and cleaning up in that it doesn't really require either. I've been interested in vintage nautical themes recently.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with these sketchbook drawings (if anything). Maybe they will only stay in my sketchbook as a fun exploration.