Canvas Phobia

As a newbie artist I have a phobia of canvas. Something about putting the brush to the bright white canvas and making a permanent mark makes me nervous. So nervous that I hold myself back. I have probably only made 2 large canvas paintings that I love, maybe 1 more that I like. The rest turn out not so good. Somehow my vision and small sketches when put on the big canvas don't turn out like I want them too. My current solution is to start my canvas like my sketches.

I do a technique when I sketch sometimes where I use a sharpie. The idea is that everything that goes down on paper is permanent. It forces you to slow down and think about every single stroke of your pen. You start somewhere on your paper and continue drawing until the paper is full or until you are satisfied with the drawing. For some reason I love making these and they almost always turn out well.

I am thinking about starting my next canvas like I start my sketches. I am hoping that this mentality will help my inner creativity loosen up somehow, and kick my phobia of canvases.

Anyone else have a phobia of canvas... or is it just me?

Getting Geometric

Recently Geometric designs are in fashion, and I am LOVING it! Besides filling my closet with some great items from Forever Twenty-One and Target, I have been filling my sketch book with them as well. They are so inspiring, and super easy and fun to make. My favorite is my pencil skirt pictured below. LOVE IT! Not only is it my favorite color, green, it fits me like a glove and has that wonderful design. Add the fact that I bought it for 8 dollars and you have a starving artists dream come true!

I got a little off subject there... the reason I bring this up is that I am loving the geometric designs so much that I cannot stop making them. I feel obsessed.

Anyone else feeling the geometric bug??

Antique Lamp

Late last year we moved. There were lots of things missing and broken, like always when you move across the country, but one treasure broken was an antique lamp given to me by my grandmother. The shade broke leaving me with an awkward looking lamp. I did some line drawings of it before we set it aside to fix or replace, haven't decided yet. This one is my favorite. Somehow it reminds me of a dancing jeanie lamp.

2012 Melissa Wenn

Antique Lamp

Pastel on Paper

Watercolors

I fooled around with watercolors the other day and was not surprised when it was not as easy as it looks. I had a lot of fun though fooling around with brushes, brush strokes, design and color. I ended up with one circle painting that I am okay with. I am planning on scanning it and adding some geometric designs to it soon. 

I have been busy with more domestic chores lately, laundry doesn't do itself as much as I wish it would!

Lamps

Once upon a time... in an art class I was instructed to draw what you see. There are a lot of interpretations of this, but when I started focusing on art I focused on drawing objects around me. The ordinary can sometimes create great works of art, depending on the way they are perceived. I grew up around abstract art. It was everywhere I looked and I viewed it as the rebel of the art world. Not quite understood by the general population, but intriguing to me in some wonderful way.

It did not surprise me that once I started drawing the items around me that they did not turn out quite the way they did to everyone else. I use line drawings to inspire me to see the abstract work around the actual item. Not letting myself look at my pencil or paper forces my mind to interpret shapes in a whole new way. Line drawings are probably my favorite form of art to make.

2012 Melissa Wenn

Lamps

Pastel on Paper 

*As always please do not edit, copy, or sell any of my artwork. Feel free to share my work with others as long as my watermark is still present. 

Oil Pastel Fetish

When we moved I found something I had all but forgotten about. My oil pastels. Hidden away in a wooden briefcase they were dusty and almost 5 years old. My husband (boyfriend at the time) had bought them for me years ago when he found out I loved to create art. Now, with my newly found oil pastels I rekindled a love that I hadn't seen since high school. Ah, oil pastels, how I have missed you.

Fooling around for a bit I immediately fell in love all over again. Something about getting down and dirty with them brings me back to the days when sitting on the floor with crayons was the highlight of my day. Oil pastels helped me find a new passion in my art that I had not felt for a long time. The movements of my hand and arm felt so right. No messing with cranky brushes that never seemed to put on the canvas what I was trying to draw. I had gone back to pencil, back to basics, and the basics were boring to me. Oil pastels brought color back to my work and I started to make works that I wanted to share.

One of my first oil pastel works. Turtle in Monochrome. Pardon the line on the right, I am not too good at photo editing. My editing software and I do not see eye to eye all the time. Computer editing was never my strong suit, but slowly (hours later) I am able to bring my art to you. Watermarked and ready.

2013 Melissa Wenn

Turtle in Monochrome

Oil Pastel on Paper

*Remember you are welcome to view, visit, even share my art, but please do not copy, sell or alter my work in any way. Ask for print pricing.

Weekend Woes

Weekends are tough for me. My husband is home and all I want to do is smother him with kisses, lay by the pool and take our dogs on long hikes. Art is the last thing on my mind for those 2 wonderful uninterrupted days. Those 2 days are filled with fun activities none of which involve a pencil in my hand (unless I am writing down our pizza order). Recently these weekends have been followed by a lazy Monday, and preceded by a pre party Thursday. That means I am left with Tuesday and Wednesday. That is not much time to create effective art. If you are like me motivation is key.

For me, making a list helps keep me on track. Remembering that even though I may be exhausted, or ready to go celebrate the weekend, I still have goals to meet.

My current list looks like this:

Take at least 20 photos of nature

Sit and doodle for 30 minutes

Edit 2 works

Scan 1 work

Finish pencil drawing I have been meaning to finish

Explore watercolors a bit

Make oil pastel drawings

Depending on who you are this could look like a lot or a little. For me this is a lot. While I enjoy creating art, the work surrounding it baffles me at times. Don't even ask how long it takes me to edit a scanned image. I usually don't get it right the first time. 

This is my husband and I rock climbing at Mt Lemmon. A favorite activity of ours. I need to start bringing art supplies!

What does your art to do list look like? Do you have trouble working on weekends? 

https://www.facebook.com/M.WennArt

I'm on Facebook

Let's be honest, Facebook is taking over. I vowed years ago to get off of Facebook and live my real life, and I succeeded for a while. Then reality hit, more and more I was out of the loop so to speak. I would miss birthday's, events, and new photos of the nieces and nephews (in law). I gave up and let Facebook win, especially after I moved from my home town in Indiana to Tucson, AZ. A big move, but now I am thankful for Facebook  It keeps me in touch with all the friends and family I miss.

Facebook can be a great thing, especially when it keeps those across the globe in touch. Now you can stay in touch with me, well at least the art me. I won't bore you with photos of my dogs (although they are adorable), or gruesome photos of my husbands new gash in his foot doing something silly, I will however keep you up to date on my art journey. If you want to show me some love and stay connected I would love to share my page with you. While you are there say hi, tell me what you like, if you are a fellow artist show me your work. Let's make this community supportive and creative!

https://www.facebook.com/M.WennArt

PS. I may have a giveaway soon if I can get some Facebook likes!

First Post

This is the start of my blog. After much push from my husband I am finally exploring my artistic career path. I have been a lot in this life. I was almost an Elementary Teacher, I was a crochet pattern maker, and a Photography prop supplier. I started a business from nothing, nurturing it until it became a steady career. I was still not happy though. Busy as I was, there was something unfulfilled in my life. A creative energy that I could not fill with crocheting up hats for newborns. It wasn't until crocheting for 6 hours a day for 3 years started to take its tole on my body that I realized I needed to switch careers.

Through these years I have never stopped making art. It has been inside me all this time just begging to come out. I do not have much training in art design, but I did grow up surrounded by it. My father is an artist and I was always in his studio watching him create his newest masterpiece. I took a few art courses in high school and then again in college, but my focus was always on a career, and at that time I did not view art as a realistic choice.

Now, years and lots of student loans later, I have grown up. I got married, adopted a few dogs, and moved across the US. Eager to go back to school, I am just waiting, saving up all the while. We are now in Tucson, AZ enjoying our new life focused on being healthy and being happy. Happy for me is making art, no matter if anyone likes it or not.

Guitar Room Color

Line Drawing with Pastel

Melissa Wenn 2012

*All art is watermarked. All rights reserved. You are welcome to share my art, but do not sell, copy, or alter my art in any way. Ask for print pricing.