Grenbug

I was about to say that January was calmer compared to the last few months, but then remembered that leaky pipe, multiple plumber visits, flood mitigation, etc! Ah, the joys of home ownership! But at least we got it all fixed. It’s funny how you can forget the disruptions so quickly.

Art Update

I did get disrupted for a week with the plumbing issue. I started taking a mandala class just to have some fun easy doodles to do and it helped. But other than that, I did have a very good month with art. I did 3 master studies and I’m really enjoying them. They are such a confidence booster since I just need to follow along with a painting that I already love, so they turn out great! And I added a little exercise with it – when I finish the sketch of the master study, I then create a sketch of my own obviously influenced by the master study, but of my own design.

This is a HUGE game-changer for me! I can borrow some of the choices from the master study, but I create my own art! And because it’s so heavily influenced by a work that I love, I am able to make works of my own that I love! It’s been really amazing and I’m going to keep doing it. I originally started this just to have something to show on the blog since I won’t post the master study, but realized it’s a great exercise on it’s own! So I’ll keep doing that for sure. I want to do a master study each week, and now it’s something I really look forward to.

I’m also trying to do an observational sketch each week. I’m just doing something small, I have a little 5×5 inch sketchbook where I’m doing the sketches for now. I’ll use that up and maybe move on to something a little bigger. Theses are a little harder for me since I get stuck trying to find a good thing to sketch. I just need to get over that and do the sketch looking at anything. I feel like these are going ok. Maybe I need to look at some other observational sketches from other artists and see if I can pull in some of that ‘master’s knowledge’ into my art too.

I’m also doing a lot of daily sketching and doing boxes and spheres, but then turning them into weird little scenes. I love surreal landscapes, they are very dream like and I would love to incorporate some of that into my art. See this example from Lee Madgwick

I have always had a love for weird buildings and structures in weird locations that just seem otherworldly and I love how Lee has an eye for that too. I love his work, and I feel like since he does weird things, I have permission to do weird things too. Of course, I’ll never get to his skill level, but I can be weird in my own way and at my own level!

Minecraft Update

Yep, nothing! LOL! And that’s fine! I don’t know what I’ll do with my channel. I really want to get back to my original idea of having an art-driven Minecraft channel. Where the art is the focus, not the Minecraft. I have some ideas of what that may look like, but I want to get my art to a better level before I try to do another video. So we’ll see. I’m building in my worlds, but just playing for fun, not for filming. I’m not going to worry about getting viewers caught up to my progress, I’m just playing for my own enjoyment. Eventually I’ll have something to show, but I have zero plans for that right now. The best thing is that all the time I was spending on filming and editing is now spent on making art!

Life Update

I have been trying to reduce screen time to give myself more art time. I installed LeechBlock on my computer and Opal on my iPad and phone to help me with that goal. What’s working for me is giving myself times when I am allowed to browse social media and YouTube, but otherwise restricting it during the day. I have things setup where I can’t do distracting things until 4pm. I’m a morning person, so my art time is usually early morning. Restricting distractions early is really helping me too.