Dawn Blair's Blog, page 214

Sketchbook – musing from 4/2013

Sketchbook page
April 2013
Dawn Blair ©2013

My sketchbook gets filled up with pieces of my life. Images I find that I enjoy. Ideas, Scribbles that hopefully turn into something decent.

Here you see just that. A sketch I had no idea what it would be when I started (the lamp post), stamps I collected at some point and taped into the journal, and the idea for the wraith that appeared in For Sale, Call Loki.

Which is scarier: the bear or the wraith doll? :)

Nature Observing

One day while having lunch, I noticed one of my blueberries was a little more purplish red than blue. As I looked at it closer, I noticed that where the stem once connected it to the plant, it looked like a little flower. I (of course) had to check out my other blueberries and sure enough, little flowers on top. Here, have a look:

Flowers on blueberries

I know that if you cut an apple through the center horizontally the seeds will make a star. Do you think nature is trying to tell us something sending us hidden flowers and stars like this?

And yes, I have a thing about photographing food (some people who know me think it’s weird. Whatever!).

Sharing Impact

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Belonging There (painting detail)
10″x8″ acrylic on canvas
Dawn Blair ©2009

 

Are you walking your life’s path alone?

I’ve often said that linking arms with others is a great way to grow. We really are interdependent on each other. If you don’t think so, think about your own life for a moment. Do you grow all of your own food? If you drive a car, do you dig up the fossil fuels and make your own gas? For that matter, do you drive only on roads that you created? Did you build your own house with supplies you went out and produced from raw materials? Do you have your own electricity? If you’re reading this, chances are you aren’t supplying your own Internet without a provider along the way. We all put our lives into the hands of countless others each day. We can’t survive alone any more, though I do have friends who make a pretty good go at it.

That being said, there’s a blog I follow when I have a moment: the better man project. While I love what he’s doing, there are a couple of his recent blogs which really stand out to me. Maybe because I needed them so much when I read them.

The first is on impact — he shares his thoughts on impact as he discovers the impact he is having on the world.

The second is a follow-up to the first and definitely worth the read.

I hope you go and read and find as much value in them as I did.

Cheers!

Pretty colors

Taste the Rainbow

Working along painting and suddenly flipped my paintbrush out of my hand. It landed in on my palette and not just in 1 color or 2. No, it had to land across 5 paints. But dang, it was so pretty. A rainbow of color on my brush. I often laugh that I don’t feel like I’m “at home with painting” until I have paint on me. Apparently my brushes feel the same way. :) I thought I’d capture it to share before I wiped it off and went back to painting.

How easy it is to get stuck

I won’t lie. I get stuck often. When people see how much I’ve created over the last 7 years, they can get overwhelmed. What they don’t see are all my stuck projects.

How does a creative person get stuck? All too easily!

It usually starts with thinking about the overwhelming tasks involved with a project. On my last blog post, I showed a picture of my animation character. I mentioned I’d been working on it for some time. Yeah, I thought about it (read that as: “I was stuck on it”) all last year. I kept thinking, “I need to do a script. I need to the character. I need to do the background. I need to think about voice actors — Ack! where I am going to find those (even though I already know how, it was still a thought)? I’ll need to get everything animated. Don’t forget intro and credit screens. Music? And don’t forget voice actors!”

Stuck, stuck, stuck! Like a car rammed into a ditch, a muddy one filled with water! Being a farm girl, I know that one. I’ve seen tractors stuck in the mud up to their axles. Oh yeah, I know about stuck.

So what can you do about it?

First off, stop thinking about it. Easier said than done, but stop. It does help if you can remember what first inspired you to work on a project. For me, I got an email that made me laugh and I remembered why I wanted to do this project (more on that as the animation develops). Now, here’s where most people will tell you to schedule time to work on the project. Let me tell you how well that worked for me: I spent 3 months with “Design character” sitting on my to do list. Have I even written the first script yet? No. I have designed an intro though. Unfortunately, I was inspired to do all those, even when I got the idea for the character, it came in a flash of brilliance.

So does that mean that you should just sit back and wait for inspiration?

No. All this time I was collecting ideas. I have an extensive note file because there’s going to be more than one animation. I did the intro, as I mentioned. I did try to block time and I did keep those appointments, even though they were unproductive for this project at that time. When I had a better grip on it by knowing what my character was going to look like, that’s when I got down to work. I did reach the tipping point. Now is when I need to be scheduling my time — before this, I really was better knowing it was a sideline project and letting flashes come to me as they did to build material while working on other things. So, don’t force yourself to think and work on a project until it’s truly time, especially if you’ve got other irons in the fire. Just keep gathering ideas as they come. When the time is right to begin, you will know.

I sit here now, unstuck, with a bare character designed, several ideas, an intro sequence I still have to animate, no first script, and no idea what I’m going to do for voices. Does that bug me? No. I’m working on it. It’s a process, a journey. It’ll come together piece by piece now. I know what needs to be done. I know what I want to do. The project is still in the wings, but isn’t completely off the stage anymore. Soon it’ll be front and center in the spotlight. I’m not ready for it to be there yet.

Getting unstuck with a project means growing with it. It grows and you grow.

Do I have other projects that I’m stuck on? A ton of them! I can’t even begin to count how many other things I’d love to be moving forward with at this moment. All of them! It’s hard for me to be stuck — I don’t deal with it very well. In fact, I have a tendency to fight it. I know this about myself. There are so many things I want to do. I know I’ll never get them all done.

If this hasn’t been enough to get you unstuck, you can always remember that if you don’t get moving, you may not have a chance to.

My final motivation (and usually the thought that spurs me into action on a project that’s been hanging around my head too long): you will be dead longer than you are alive. How would you really feel about never completing this project?

Animation Project

Animation Character
Dawn Blair ©2014

I have an animation project I’ve been thinking about for quite some time now and I’ve decided that I’m going to put focus on it this year. After all, you have to Show Up! right? There will be lots more coming on this project, but I thought I’d show off what I have started. Designing a character from scratch is a lot more difficult than it looks. Fortunately, the animation is easier.

The Change — Part 2

So here I stand, with the transformed painting mentioned in my last blog, and either I have another failure or a success. I admit, I’m a little nervous. I get nervous easily! Grin.

I fully accept that every painting is not necessarily a masterpiece, nor would I want it to be. If they were, I wouldn’t have a challenge. I like to see my skills growing. I came across a quote some time ago about if something was still growing, you knew it was still alive — I’ll blog on that sometime in the future I’m sure.

Okay, here it is: Raising a Buck transformed into a new painting…

He Who Holds the Key
20″x24″ acrylic on wrapped canvas
Dawn Blair ©2014

The flowers are gone and a more fall atmosphere has claimed the stage. The deer is basically the same through I did brighten him a bit more. The biggest change is the key hanging from his antlers.

A key?

Yes, you see that golden key there. Ah, yes, there’s a story.

I sat for days looking at this painting, wondering what I could do to this painting. I knew I had to do something to make it my own, something with my fantasy style to finish the transformation. It was right there, so close…

So elusive!

I had an idea for something mysterious, but when I sketched it in with charcoal on the canvas, I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel right.

Then I thought about a key, similar to the ones I’ve been painting recently with the vines, which would hang from his antlers.

Before I even got it painted on, I realized that this key held more symbolism than I had originally thought. It feels like so many people in our world today are looking for the golden key to make everything perfect in their life. If only they had the time to figure out what they need to do, or figure out who to be with, or figure out how to have more time. We feel as if something special is locked away from us. We just need to find the key and then everything will be wonderful and fixed.

The reality is that “our key” is always right there beside us. We don’t have to go looking very far. Many gurus even say that we never have to look outside of ourselves for our answer, that what we need is already inside us. I don’t disagree. But this deer is symbolic of how we look around and the answer is forever elusive. We can feel it, maybe even catch a glimmer of it, but can we grasp it?

So, for what it’s worth, my painting transformed and I found a new piece of myself within. I hope you like the change too.

The Change – Part 1

Failed paintings… all artists have them and it seems like the more you “learn” the more failed paintings you have.  Remember this painting:

Raising a Buck
20″x24″ acrylic on wrapped canvas
Dawn Blair ©2010

Okay, I admit, it was called “Raising a Buck” for more than one reason. I thought if I painted something a little more “normal” that I might be able to sell it out here in Idaho.

Then came the embarrassment. I had it hanging at shows and person after person kept telling me, “Nice deer. Too bad they don’t really have antlers like that when the spring flowers are out.” I so obviously didn’t know my subject!

So I shoved the painting away. I knew some day I could paint over the canvas and do something new. I just had to wait for the right day — you know, the one where the Muse comes and taps on your shoulders and says, “Hi, honey, let’s get to work.” Yeah, that day.

I was starting to wonder if it would ever come.

Then I came across Brandon Schaefer’s YouTube channel. Since you already know that I love to know how other artists work, you’ll know I was fascinated by the videos he has of his working and thoughts. One of those was a video on what to do with failed paintings. Yeah, I have one or two (or fifty) of those! So I watched and I’d like to share with you now:

Well, that’s when the Muse settled in on my shoulder and said, “Hi, honey! Let’s get to work!”

Coming up next: Raising a Buck transformed…

How did she get up there?

#4114003
10″x 8″ acrylic on canvas
Dawn Blair ©2014

It’s just one of those things you have to wonder. I think she has a story to tell me.

Here’s a close up.

#4114003 – closeup of girl
10″x 8″ acrylic on canvas
Dawn Blair ©2014

 

Sunny skies

#4114002
10″x 8″ acrylic on canvas
Dawn Blair ©2014

Now available on Zibbet.