Critter83

I just noticed my latest journal entry is a year and a half old. What say I update it, eh?

I'm a little ADD, so my life is consistently changing. However, I do hope to get involved with art again. I keep coming back for more, even when I've been away a while. There are a lot of things that interest me. Thus far, I've never really been able to Smash as I would have liked. I do enjoy ZenTangle. One of my favorite things to do, at the moment, is to take a coloring page and ZenTangle it.

Since July, I've been involved in trying to make my life a healthier one. I still am. I'm now Vegan (from life-long vegetarian) and exercise regularly (5-6 days a week usually). With the holidays fast approaching and life recently hitting me pretty hard in another area, I've found it difficult to stick to my schedule, but I still go to the gym as time allows. In 5 months, I have lost 45 pounds and gained vitality in the mean time. 

I intend to go back to college in January. I'm waiting for my FAFSA to come through so I can sign up for classes. I will be working towards a career as a fitness & nutrition trainer. I've made an impact on the lives of those around me and it inspires me to be a role model to others. I have something to give. Something I haven't felt since my firstborn was taken from me 6.5 years ago. There is hope where once there was none. 

Recently, I've discovered (or, possibly REdiscovered) that there's more to health then exercise and nutrition. It's really about balance in several aspects of your life: social, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical. To that end, I'm coming back to art and my relationship with God. I've been wanting to get myself some colors: SAI (digital art), and various other mediums (colored pencils, water colors, pastels, etc). Maybe while I'm in school, I can even take an art class or two to help my drawing skills. How awesome would it be to be able to color my own drawings?! Exciting, to say the least. Hopefully, there'll be more to come both in this journal and in my art work in my portfolio.

So I've been doing a LOT of research recently into the different art forms and discovering that art comes in MANY different forms. That's why they call it arts AND crafts. The sky's the limit and it's an amazing sky!

Two things I've recently learned about, I am absolutely wonky about. I really want to get started in them as soon as possible. The first is called a Smash Book. The other Zentangling/doodling.

A Smash Book is like a scrap book that might inlude a few pictures, but it mainly includes every thing else that doesn't have a spot. A memorobilia journal. Any thing from receipts to tickets to chop stick holders goes in there. You can pretty much name it and it'll go in there. Ok, I guess my 60s convertible won't go in there, but you get the point. I need materials for this. I haven't even done scrapbooking, so I'm completely starting from scratch. Some of the main items I want to start with include, but are in no way limited to, a binder, cardstock papers, stamps, stencils, lace, stickers, and the one Smash Book item I want to get that's actually put out by the company that made Smash Book (they have actual journals, but I'm just not going that route) is the Smash Pen. The Smash Pen is an on-the-move tool you can use to smash. A pen on one side and a glue stick on the other.

Zentangling is a type of doodle... but doodling is not necessarily zentangling.

"The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being." (Zentangle.com)

Zentangling is all over this site, so I know some of you know about it already. I've spent the last couple of days learning about the Zentangle original patterns. As soon as I fill up my pattern journal, I'll have some ideas and start doing some different things. So Zentangles I can get started with right away. Mainly because there are so many good people that have actually put the patterns online and all you really need is your imagination, a pen and paper.

Just posting to say I'm still around. Currently most of my work is done with paper and pencil since a.) I'm just starting to learn and b.) no wacom! Misery! Woe is me! Woe I say!

Next month isn't looking too good either. I'm getting an extremely short allowance. I'll be lucky to get all my (service) dog's needs. But I am still here and I am still trying to learn. Potentially joining an art club in the area. Stay tuned for further details!

Not even sure if any one is following my journal entries, but I'll keep posting any way.

Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.... makes perfect!

I've drawn a few sketches so far, nothing real difficult. But there are pieces I'm proud of. I found a thread on the forums, under "Draw Plz" - "Draw the last person's..." that I've really been enjoying.

forum.deviantart.com/devart/dr…

Only trouble is, I can't seem to figure out how to post an image directly into the forums. It's very troublesome. Any ways, I find it a great warm up.

Just one issue, though. I don't have a pen and tablet to draw with on the computer. I'm reduced to a mouse. A mouse! I'm sure some of you spoiled artists know how that feels. Any way, I'm going to be sure to get a proper set for the computer next month. Until then, I'll have to continue with my mouse. For having to draw with my mouse, though, my strawberry really isn't all that bad...

Doodling on art programs on the computer is not the only thing I've been doing, however. I am drawing by hand on this thing they call PAPER. I figure, if I can get the basics on paper, I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing on the computer.

Yesterday, I also took a look at instructional videos on You Tube. I got a few good warm ups to learning how to fine tune the motor skills necessary for art. One I really liked was called "Staying On The Road". He had you draw whatever shape and stay on that shape over and over again. The advanced step to that was the pressure you put on the paper on a shape. He suggested doing various shapes with it. He also recommended a perfect circle, an oval, and- something called a peanut which was a twist between a circle and an oval.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdRSpY…

Any way, it's a practice I'm going to take up every time I sit down to start working on my drawing. I'd like to do warm up exercises, go through a tutorial video of some sort, then practice what I've learned every day to raise my super powers of artistry. I really ought to repeat this process with my writing. Warm up, read/watch an improvement tutorial, practice. Good for any art, really.

I've also signed up with a couple of groups. One is for coloring. (The other for beginner artists- though a lot of what they do in there looks any thing but beginner. That could be just me though... :/) I'm learning layers fast. Something I'd like to know where coloring is concerned is shading. I want to improve my coloring past putting color on paper. I've been doing that for years. Time to go up a level... or several!

I was away yesterday, enjoying time with my family. Today is my birthday and we were celebrating! Any way, I haven't been around to post to Deviant recently.

Over the past couple of days I've had a chance to try my hand at drawing- a remote control and a dog biscuit. Hope to figure out how to load them to the computer soon so I can post them to Deviant. Also, I stole my kid's coloring book to start my hand at shading. I was liking my progress, but started to fall asleep before I could finish. We'll see how it turns out soon.

Today, I plan on relaxing, enjoying my art, playing games, reading, writing and watching tv. Nothing special.