More Free Collage Sheets

Well, I thought I would add a couple more free collage sheets for your artwork. My paintings for the NY exhibit have made it there and ready for the show. I had to pick 5 out of the 6 that I made, and will posting a picture of the ones chosen and the one that didn't I will be adding to my Etsy shop over the weekend. I will post all of that over the next couple of days. For now, I have to get busy packing. My husband starts his new job on Monday, and the girls and I will be ready to go as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend!

Two More...

As you can see, I went ahead and did two more paintings so that I could have a few to pick from for the gallery exhibit. I have a pretty good idea of which ones I will send, but I will post my choices as soon as I make them.

Now, I have a huge announcement to make. We are moving to Stephenville, which is about 146 miles from here. My head is spinning because this has happened so fast. My husband was approached by Tarleton State University for a director position in their mathematical research and IT department in conjunction with the USDA. He wasn't really looking although he was probably going to have to pretty soon. Being in the IT industry right now is a very unstable thing. The company he works for is doing what lots of other big companies are doing by replacing all of their IT employees with off shore companies. Not a very good thing - especially right now. With literally thousands of these people losing their jobs every day around here that are in this particular field, finding another job is next to impossible.

I just think that God was watching out for us. We have talked about wanting to get out of the busy metroplex/busy city life and return more to our roots of small town living. We just weren't sure how that was going to happen until they offered him this job. This is the same University he graduated from, and so he is already familiar with the town. As for me, well it is only about 45 miles from where I grew up and where all of my family lives. I have been to Stephenville many times growing up. We will both now be closer to our families as well as getting to live in a small town. It will be better for all of us in the long run, but getting there is going to be a challenge. Selling our house with the market the way it is right now might be difficult, but hopefully it won't take too long to sell. Doug starts his new job on March 1, so he will go during the week and the girls and I will stay here until we get the house ready to sell and then we will go with him.

I will try to keep up with my blog as much as possible during all of this, but if you don't hear much from me until we get settled, you now know why.

Now on to my next project....

Four Down & One to Go (I Think)

I finally finished painting number 4 after starting over 3 different times. I guess for some reason, I hit a block and just couldn't get past a certain point, and once I did do that, I HATED the way it turned out, and so I would start over. Any way, I finally got it to where I kindof like it. I'm just still not that sure, maybe it's because it's not what I first intended, or maybe it's just that I'm my own worst critic. Either way, I think I miss counted on my post of my previous painting saying that it was number four, but this one actually is. I will post some pics of a few of my art journal pages tomorrow.

Have a good evening!
Stacy

Free Collage Sheets

I have been taking Pam Carriker's wonderful Visual Journalism 101 class. I have to admit, I have never kept up with an art journal like I should. I have started and stopped I don't know how many times, but not ever consistently. After taking Pam's class, I am totally hooked! I work in my art journal a lot now - daily, sometimes even several times daily. I see now how important keeping an art journal is as an artist, and just for myself. I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember, and my background from college is "Professional Writing and Literature." As you can see with all of that put together, it's really ridiculous that I have not embraced this concept until now. I have already made several discoveries and future artistic plans in the few short weeks that I have been doing this.

Since this has all been going on, I have been creating lots of collage sheets for my journals and work instead of just printing things off as I need them. I thought I would share a couple of them with you today for everyone in the class as well as you wonderful readers of my blog. I will also be sharing these from time to time, so check back often, as I am sure I will do this quite a bit.

Gotta add my little "disclaimer" ~
All that I ask is that you use these for your personal artwork. Just please don't sell these in your own collage sheets or as single images.

Enjoy~If you create anything with any of these images, I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

I will be posting some of my pages this week. My camera is giving me problems right now, and even Photoshop can't fix it. I may have to revert to just scanning them in. I've about got my husband ready to buy me a new camera! WhooHoo!!

Happy Creating!
Stacy

I Really Did Do It....

I have now finished the 4th of 5 paintings that I have to finish for an upcoming gallery show. I was actually in an "artist block" mode and decided to look to my favorite artist for some inspiration. I have loved Monet's work since I was a little girl and I can always look at some of his paintings and immediately feel inspired. I love his water lilly paintings and I owe him credit for giving me the inspiration for this piece.

Onward on to my announcement of what "I really did do".... Earlier in January, I made a promise to myself and everyone else that I was going to have my Etsy shop up and running by the end of the month of January. Well, I did - I actually got it up earlier last week, but just haven't had a chance to make the announcement here until today. I still have some tweaking to do, but it is up and going, and I made my first sale within a few minutes of having the store up! You can click on my link on the sidebar if you'd like to take a look. If you do, let me know what you think.

I am in the middle of finishing my 4th painting and as soon as I am finished I will upload it as well.

Cheers~
Stacy