Tunaless

Here is a mixed media piece of art that I created within a couple of days.  I purchased this awesome expensive canvas relatively cheaply at a city wide yard sale in February.  It had a painting on it that had some texture. I got the canvas for $10 but it is a $60 or more professional canvas.  I bought it with the intention of painting over it once inspiration struck which it did about 2 weeks after purchasing.

I decided to use joint compound and slather it all over the canvas. Thought it then had to much texture so I took half of it off and then used a giant bubble sheet and pressed it down on the canvas over the we joint compound to make an interesting texture.  I used a blow dyer to dry the canvas quickly. Then I used a couple of shades of red to paint the entire canvas.  I drew on a funny looking cat and then proceeded with the back breaking work of painting the cat in stripes.  This was painful because it was a large narrow canvas that I had on the dining room table and was bent over standing up the entire time painting.  The final process was to use charcoal pencil and highlight parts of the cat.

I really liked the outcome and so did many other people. I got about 2-3 offers to sell it but no one wanted to pay me the min. wage price I was asking for it for the time and materials.  In the end it worked out as it should. My boyfriend loved the painting and calls it "Tunaless" and encouraged me to keep it.  He states it reminds him of how he looks when he is hungry and doesn't have access to food as quickly as he'd like. :)

Twin Art

I got inspiration for this piece from the hotel room paintings when I did the Kiawah Half Marathon.  I loved the colors and random pattern in the paintings. There was two that were almost matching but not quite.

What I didn't realize was the time it would take to create these paintings. The circle pattern and the many layers of each color on each circle took an inordinate amount of time.  After completing one piece I posted it on Facebook and received a lot of positive feedback. One family friend stated it would go perfectly in her bedroom remodel. I told her it was one of two pieces and she said she was interested in them. I made the first before Christmas and then the holidays happened, so the second one didn't get made until about a week into the New Year.  Considering that I was stupid enough to have shipped the first one to her and so I had to match it by the pictures I took, I think it turned out pretty well.  She even sent me a check to help cover the material and shipping cost plus a few bucks extra. Woohoo!!!

In the end I found out through this person's mom on FB that her mom wanted the pictures even more for her front room and ended up stealing them from her daughter.  I must agree the room color is perfect to display the paintings! I love seeing my artwork actually hung/being displayed.

One in dark lighting.

The other in bright work lighting.

Another Creative Barter

At the Crapmus party I bartered with a friend to get her comic book socks. So I had to create a piece of art for her.  Below is the small mixed media painting I came up with. My friend states that she thinks she got the better end of the bargain.  Since I got the socks for my boyfriend and he has yet to wear them I'd most likely agree with her.

Be a Super Hero & Get to the Green

Since the half marathons in Nov. and Dec. I slowed down on my running for a little bit and had some fun working out using other machines including walking outdoors, the elliptical, bike, and rowing machine.  I did my first race in Charleston, SC in mid-February. I conned my boyfriend into running the Super Hero race with me and spending the weekend in Charleston. Little did we know that it was a 5k trail race. This was only his second race and his first ever trail run. Ooo it was a little rough for him but he was a good sport. We went decked out as Spiderman and Wonder Woman!

Next up was the St. Patty's Get to the Green 10k in Columbia, SC.  I didn't sleep well the night before and woke with a sore throat but the weather was a perfect 50 degrees and cloudy and the rain held off until the race was done. I met a friend at the race and for the first time I got to test out my speed since I had been working hard at getting faster like I use to be.  My final time was pretty good- 57.22 for 6.2 miles. I placed 131/327 overall.  My pace time was just under 9 min. mile. Woohoo!

Next up is an all new race by Strictly Running of Columbia and is called the Daybreaker 10 mile.  I have a lot of running to do to get up to 10 miles in a couple of short weeks.

Creative Exchange

A girlfriend of mine from grad school who now works in Ohio has been into knitting. I knew she did this in grad school during classes as she has ADD and it helps her to focus, but over the years she's gotten insanely talented at knitting. I've seen her work on Facebook and one day saw that she had made a knitted tablet case. I thought this was pretty cool and sense my tablet case just recently broke I suggested we do an art exchange.  She liked my paintings and so we exchanged a painting for a knitted tablet case.  This was a very fun exchange utilizing our creative selves.

Crapmus & Galentine Parties

Through my Women's Social Meetup group I met this energetic gal who happens to be from Buffalo, NY. Woot, woot!  She is a crafty creative soul and introduced me to the Crapmus and Galentine Party.  Maybe you too haven't heard of these so I'll tell you all about them in this blog.

A Crapmus party is where you get all of your girlfriends together, have some food and drinks and bring rewrapped gifts that you don't want that you got for Christmas or for some other occasion.  It's a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night.  Made even better by my friend making actual fake poo pile ornaments as take home gifts. This party typically occurs after Christmas into the New Year. In addition, it's a PJ party!

A Galentine party typically takes place around Valentine's Day and is a great way to celebrate all of the wonderful strong women in your life. Again the party consist of great drinks and food but this time you bring with you some arts and crafts projects/supplies and get to create while celebrating your friendships. This too was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday evening.

Important note you can host a Crapmus or Galentine party any ole time. :)