Hunting 301 - Home, Work, Art

I've been in Westminster, Colorado since Monday, looking for the essentials - a place to live, a place to work, and places to market my art.

One down - place to live - two more to go...

On today's agenda:  t-shirt design, calls to staffing agencies, and sending job applications this morning, followed by venturing to Pearl Street in Boulder this afternoon. Next week, I plan to visit my brother & sister-in-law in Fort Collins and inquire at galleries there, too.

I am reminded of another favorite quote:  "Life is not about finding yourself - it is about CREATING yourself."

Here's to CREATING my life!

Ready to Deliver

The wedding certificate is complete and ready to go to its new home later today.

This project took me a lot longer than I anticipated but I also learned a lot during the process:

• A little planning goes a LONG way. I am usually much more free-form in my work, but this forced me to be methodical and very careful with planning the layout.
• Work to whatever music moves me at the moment. It just so happens that I was listening to Prince, which had me grooving and relaxed, just enjoying laying down the ink and paint.
• Patio doors make great light boxes - especially for full-size watercolor sheets!
• Commissioned work is best when it relates to the one commissioning it. The floral design was adapted from a motif in a stained glass window in the bungalow of this couple. Granted, whatever I create will reflect me inherently, but it is important to me that the client feels a connection to the piece, too.

I am always to see a client's reaction, and hopefully today's will keep my record going...

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Commission in Progress

Having my morning joe while mentally-gearing up for painting the border and decorated initials on a wedding certificate. It's the first time I've ever created one of these, and I'm enjoying the process.

I spent the better part of the day yesterday, lettering a rough, determining spacing of text and lines for witnesses' signatures, then actually penciling in all the guidelines. It took more time than I had estimated, but that's okay, as this is a first, and experience is a great teacher!

I used my patio window as my light box, tracing the border I had drawn on sketch paper. This certificate is a full page of 22x30" hot-press Fabriano watercolor paper, 150# weight. I used a heavier paper, because it will be signed after the ceremony, meaning it will get handled somewhat.

Here it is so far, with the calligraphy done in walnut ink with 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm Brause nibs.