Week 15... follow up on my goals.

In Week 4, I outlined my creative goals for 2011... and I had some big goals.  Well, we're in the 3rd month of the new year, so let's check in to see how I'm doing.

1. Design my website... We're starting off on the right foot because the website redesign in well under way.  I've nailed down my color scheme, started to sift through my "must have's" and "I don't wants" on my sidebar, and thanks to Laura, am creating my tabs/pages.  I've been toying with the idea of switching to wordpress, but am a little terrified of the upkeep.  Tara Gentile is offering her Website Kickstart Class again, and because I don't have enough to do... yeah right... I'm really thinking of taking it.  Does anyone have any experience with Wordpress?  Did you like it? Do they have the capability to host your own shop?

Graphic by Tara

2. Finish my first collection by the end of 2011... This goal, unfortunately, has taken a backseat to the preemie clothes, and the commissioned painting I'm working on at the moment.  Poor Claire has been in limbo, sitting on my drafting table, waiting for me to get it together.  Someday soon I hope to have a couple hours to spend with her.

3. Open my PeachHoneyLove Etsy shop by end of Summer 2011... To be honest I'm not sure if this is going to happen.  The PHP clothing line is taking up the bulk on my time, but once the prototypes are complete, and the shop is open, I will have a lot more time to devote to my paintings... I hope.

4. Open my PeachHoneyPreemie Etsy shop by the beginning of Summer 2011... This is definitely happening.  I have about 20 blankets and 10 fitted sheets complete, 8 blanket and 5 sheets pinned, and fabric remnant strips that need to be sewn into ribbons for packaging.  I am still working on the patterns for two more fitted sheet sizes, and I need to print some postcards to include in each order.  We're almost there.... Monday, July 11th is my target date.  Everyone cross your fingers.

5. Finish 5 PeachHoneyPreemie clothing prototypes by the end of 2011...  We are definitely in business.  We have two patterns down, and 3 to go.  I started calling companies for fabric samples, and Sacramento Contractors about producing my line.  No luck yet, but I keep trucking along.  I may have to just bite the bullet and take the trip to San Leandro.

6. Take an encaustic painting class...  Not yet, but I have just learned my local Learning Exchange offers multiple encaustic classes during the year.  Yay for me!!

Painting & Photo by  Judy Wise

7. Start a family... Unfortunately, not yet, but I do have this sweet little muffin to come home to.

Photo by me

8. Sketch more...  also on the back burner.  I wish I could find the time to balance everything that makes my heart go pitter patter.  Do you find it hard to balance everything you're interested in?  How do you manage the chaos? Oh, by the way, Check out Heather's blog!!  Her Sunday Sketches are amazing, and I hope to be half as good with some practice.

Sketch & Photo by Heather

Sketch & Photo by Heather

I think I'm doing pretty good... it's only March, right?  9 more months to go.  Don't forget about my 101 things in 1001 days... Hope to have an update soon.  Have a great week!!

My dreams were in San Francisco...

Photo by me

They were doing a whole lot of construction in San Francisco this week... PANIC!  Thankfully, my husband drove, and I could sit in the passenger seat, sweating and clutching the door handle.  The navigation on my phone kept having to "reroute" due to the endless "no turning" signs, and if it told me to make a u-turn one more time, I swear I would have thrown it out of the window.  I'm always amazed how different the drivers and pedestrians act in the city.  Cab drivers squeezing in between a car and the curb 3 feet away, cutting you off just to make a light... aggressive much?  Thankfully, I don't live in this madness, I would not be as pleasant :)

So I met with Monica this weekend, a pattern/sample maker and owner of Tag Studio.  She has been assigned the huge task of making my dreams come true.  As instructed I bought a preemie onesie (to serve as the middle-of-the-range size... there will, eventually, be a size bigger and a size smaller), and a doll that fits that onesie.  I have a total of 5 designs, but she thought it was best if we stick to the two easiest for the time being because I'm so new to this process.  Poor Monica... I had NO CLUE what this process would entail.  Thankfully, she talked it through with me, step by step, as if I was a third grader.  I could feel my heart violently beating as she handed me my new "honey-do" list.

My lovely husband was so gracious, and sat quietly in the corner with a smile on his face, taking pictures. 

...pinning the preemie pants...



...more pinning...



...schedule check...

Monica called me yesterday to inform me the samples were complete, and that she would mail them this week.  SCREAM!!  My next huge step is to pick my fabric, a MUY IMPORTANTE step according to Monica.  I ordered a Fashiondex book a couple days ago, and will soon start the daunting task of finding the right fabric to use in the line.  This means sending samples to companies, waiting for them to respond, calling, calling, calling.  Not looking forward to this step... 

But everything is happening!!! So excited I could just pee!!

A question for you...

Ok, so I wanted to talk about something else, and I am in desperate need of some advice.  As you know, I have two blogs... this one, and PeachHoneyPreemie.  Man, it is very difficult to balance my time between the two.  I'm torn because I want to offer consistency to both blogs, but it's impossible to keep up with that kind of posting schedule, while starting my business.  I'm adding to my to do lists faster than I can cross things off, and I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed.  Something has to give, so here's my proposal... I want to combine the two blogs under the name PeachHoneyLove.  I want to share my PHP news with my PHL peeps, so I find myself double posting.  It seems a little absurd to me.  What do you think?  Any suggestions?

Chloe...

...just a glimpse of Chloe...

Well, I started on Miss Chloe... and made the hard decision of making her look a little older.  I don't exactly know why, but I wanted to try it out.  I was done practicing in the sketchbook, so I just went for it.  My initial intention was to do a tutorial on how I go about shading my face, but since I learned the technique from Monica, I didn't think it was right.  If you want to learn more about creating a realistic face PLEASE TAKE HER CLASS!! (I'm taking the Mixed Media Faces, but the Pencil Drawing class is also fantastic)

I use a combination of Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, and Derwent Watercolor pencils.  I prefer Prismacolor, but I'm use specific Derwent colors... you can buy them individually, instead of paying for an entire set.  I start with Prismacolor Sunburst yellow and then use Burnt Yellow Ochre, Pink Madder Lake, and Deep Vermillion (all Derwent colors)... in that order.  The last color I use Prismacolor's Burnt Sienna, a dark brown with a reddish undertone.  I reserve this color for shading the darkest areas, after I have blended out the first 4 colors with acrylic paint... more on that later.  Working from your lightest color, to your darkest color, allows you to reshape your face and features as you go.  You can also control varying amounts of shading that occur naturally on the face.  Monica suggests working off a picture of a real face, and I agree this helps a great deal.  There's no guessing, just draw and shade what you see.  Here's my progression of shading, as I work through my five colors.

sunburst yellow

Sunburst yellow & burnt ochre



yellow, ochre, and pink madder lake

yellow, ochre, pink madder, and deep vermillion



...let's  start her hair...



...reshaping her Princess Leia buns with Terra Cotta...

I like working on the Gessobord, it's textured surface is similar to what I'm used to, but alas... I miss my watercolor paper.  It's making me think I should just draw my face on my favorite paper and glue it on using gel medium.  Hmmmmm.  Let's try out the Claybord, and then we'll attempt the other option.  Another thing I noticed was the PVA glue acts as a resist, so the watercolor pencil doesn't transfer very well over the collaged areas... no bueno.  I wonder if it would make a difference if I used gel medium, instead of PVA glue... or apply clear gesso over the collaged areas.   Something to keep in mind.

I used a light hand with the watercolor pencils because I wanted Chloe to have fair skin.  However, when I blended out the pencil with fluid white acrylic paint, her skin was a little to fair, for my taste.  I will add some more color with flesh tone acrylics and terra cotta pencil on my future layers.  Here's what she looks like now.

...still needs a lot of shading...

Like I mentioned before, the PVA glue acted as a resist, and I wasn't too happy with the results.  Good thing I do multiple layers on my painting, even the hair... we will find a way to fix it!!

...PVA glue acts as a resist...

Let's talk about blending.  I use the same color on the face and hair, but get different results when blending because I use white fluid acrylics to blend the face, and only water to blend the hair.  The white paint "pastels" (not really an action word, but what the heck) the pigment of the color pencil pigment.  You maintain the true pigment color of the pencil when you blend with water (or mineral spirits, whatever you prefer), so the terra cotta color I used makes a beautiful version of red hair.  Here's a couple sample swatches I did in my sketch book.  You can play around with the amount of color saturation by varying the amount of white paint you use.

Well, I hope this was helpful.  Miss Chloe is not even close to being done, but my days off are upon us, so I plan to finish her up and show you my progress.  Talk to you soon!!

PeachHoneyPreemie

If I didn't mention already, I'm starting a new venture.... the production of a NICU-friendly preemie clothing line. I know... it's a big task, but dang it I can't help myself. I started another blog... come check it out! Follow me... I'm always happy to share my journey with people willing to join the ride.

I'm gearing up for the official launch of PeachPoneyPreemie... no, there's no big party... I'm just referring to the party in my head :). I'm just so stinkin' excited!! Don't mind me... just some dorky behavior happening. My kitchen table has become "seamstress central" and it's full of partially done projects all for PHP. I could just scream... from excitement.

I never realized how hard it was to transform a drawing of, say, "The Snappy Dresser" (an actual dress in the PHP line... cute, don'tcha think) into an actual article of clothing. Thankfully, I have my mother-in-law (seamstress guru to the stars) to help... she's been wonderful. From giving me a sewing basics refresher course, to physically walking me through my first shirt construction (start to finish), she has made the process seem a lot less terrifying. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by people who love and support your dreams.... and that means you, all my "Flying Lessons" classmates... you have been awesome!!! Thanks guys, it means the world!!

I'm on my way...

Well, it's been a very busy week... lots of stuff to report... let's start at the beginning...

I took a Story Canvas class a couple weeks ago from Chris Cozen at my local stamp store, and OH MY GOD!!!, I can't even explain to you how wonderful it was... She is so talented and her presence alone helped to inspire truly beautiful work from everyone in the class... It's so wonderful to be surrounded by talented people... it helps to spark ideas that may otherwise lay dormant...

I brought a pic of Joseph and I (our favorite picture of the two of us) from our weekend in San Francisco last July... We had only been dating for a month, but I knew then and there I was madly in love... Here's my finished collage... it's my first mixed media piece and I'm so so so happy with it... I love that you can tell a story, real or not, and transform that story into something beautiful...

I have to admit that I was being a total groupie,

hanging off of her every word, but damnit it was worth it... here's a pic of the two of us (after she signed my book, of course)... Another good outcome of the class was that I got to talk to Chris about how she got started creating her own line of rubber stamps... Let's just say that my sketches are on their way to "her lady" and I'm that much closer to launching Peach Honey products... AHHHHHH!!! Yea, just a little excited...

I FINALLY HAVE A WORK TABLE!!! After my custom table dreams fell threw I called my Dad to see if there was any way he could help me make something... He informed me that he had a drafting table that he wasn't using... A FREE TABLE?!? Long story short, I went to Home Depot, got a new table top, and he happily attached it... It's so perfect... it's 3x5 feet with an adjustable height, and I even got a clip on lamp to attach to the side... I couldn't help but play all Monday afternoon and evening.... Here's a couple mixed media pieces I did... you like?

And here's a pic of my new table... yes, it's already covered in projects and I love it!!! I wouldn't have it any other way...

NEW FAV BOOK!!! Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected by Claudine Hellmuth... It took me a week to finish her first book, Collage Discovery Workshop, and this new one was no exception... lovely new techniques to inspire even the newest of artists, and examples of her lovely work... After finishing the book, I took out all my mini canvas boards, and tried them out... here's what I did... whatcha think? (They will be going up on my Etsy site soon, I promise)...

Let the craziness begin...

My life has become one big whirl of STUFF!!!...Color Theory class with my Mati... I have only done one lesson, and since I haven't finished the first assignment, yet, I haven't scheduled the second lesson (I'm such a bad student)... I'm also doing an online Business class through Learning Exchange... I really really really want to launch Peach Honey Products, so this is the first step to it's success...

I'm still organizing my multitude of crap!!! This project has been going on for awhile, but I'm really serious about finishing it soon (stop rolling your eyes, Joseph)... I'm doing a commission for Joseph's parent's... my first one, and I'm oh so nervous... I hope they love it...

I'm still doing classes here and there from local art stores... I've done a couple from David Lobenberg, which I loved and I plan to sign up for more in the future... I signed up for a class with Chris Cozen, author of Altered Surfaces, and a local stamp art store... I'm so excited to work on my mixed media pieces...

And yes, I'm still working full-time as a nurse, and thank God because it's the only way I can finance all my artistic passions... Damn inspiration!!!... it gets me into so much trouble...

Peach Honey Product dreams

Miss Suzi Blu has inspired me once again... She has started a new venture with painting kits and online classes and I couldn't be happier for her... Her success has pushed me to seek out some dreams of my own... I have started the beginnings of what I hope to become Peach Honey Products... I think I'll start with stamps and expand from there... I emailed Tim Holtz to see how he got started with his AMAZING line and he gave me a few ideas and told me to follow my dreams... love him!!!
More to come... have a wonderful weekend...

PS... It's my birthday on Sunday!!! Oh, and more importantly, its also my mom's birthday on Sunday!!... Happy Birthday Momma!!!