10,000 Hours & A Journal Page

My daughter is a dancer. She has been dancing since she was four...just an itty bitty thing then. Now, she tells me that her dancing will help her when she is an actress and singer. She is 7. Watch out Hollywood! ;) It is an amazing thing to witness the seed of a dream. You know what I mean? The first time someone starts to really speak of what they want. Of course over time things can change - but, the beginning is truly breathtaking. 

We recently switched to a new dance studio, and my little performer is having to work her little tail off to "catch up" and train differently.  We have had many talks about dedication, time, and effort. I think the key to it all is finding what makes your heart soar... your passion. Then it doesn't all seem like a chore. You should have seen her little determined face as she practiced turning over and over again last night down our hall. As she worked and worked, I could slowly begin to see her face fill with joy. Not because she was doing the turn "right" or "perfectly", but because she was trying her hardest and getting better. It was joy sprinkled with pride and accomplishment. 

 Recently my hubby said that in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he states that is takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. 10,000 hours! Seems like a ton of time and it is. That's a lot of dancing or painting, gardening, singing, cooking, snowboarding...or whatever it may be. It reminded me that I need to show up at my studio table. Just get there and paint. I need to make time...every day. If I am going to get those 10,000 hours in I need to get busy. Lol. I surely don't want to become a master of blog surfing or pinning. Ha! I am not really serious about that, but you get what I mean. Time management! :)

With all this dance on the brain, I painted this sweet little dancer last week. Obviously inspired by my very own darling twirler made it very fun for me. Just a quick sketch, a layer of gesso, and some acrylic paint. I used watercolor crayons too as usual.

 I found these word/phrase stickers that I thought would be fun for my journal. They have a very artsy, creative theme. Super fun! The company that made them is Cosmo Cricket and I spotted them in the scrapbook section at Joanns.

I added the words, "follow your heart" along the side of her dress. 

That's what I want for my little Sugarbean - you and me too...

No matter what it is or where it may take you...follow.

AND dream...dream BIG! 

The journey will be worth it! :) 

Loving the Little Moments

I have been trying to spend some time "in the studio" each day this week, even just for a few minutes if I can. I feel so much better when I can actually work on something creative EACH day. Maybe just a page in my journal, a background, finishing up a canvas, working on some DIY project or craft (thank you Pinterest), painting with my little one...just something. Even for a short time, it is SO worth. I used to convince myself that if I couldn't sit down for long stretches of time, it wasn't worth it. I have learned that those little moments count. Every. single. one.

My creative time is a little "self love" or therapy for myself. I unwind, relax, dream...what I find is that sometimes I spend too much time "looking" at other people being creative. You know what I mean?  Anyone else feel that way? Don't get me wrong...I love reading blogs, watching technique videos on YouTube, and looking through Pinterest. But, all in moderation. I need to make sure that I am doing & not just observing all the creativity around me. :)

I painted this little girlie in about 10 minutes on a piece of chipboard. I have been painting lots of these little faceless girls with quotes & scriptures. I am really falling in love with them. It's funny...I always come back to art for children. I know I have mentioned that before. It is where I started (painting for my daughter's nursery & friends) and where I continually end up.

I have painted several small canvases too. I think they may make their into my poor little neglected Etsy shop. My poor little shop needs some TLC. :)

 All you need...

 So simple...but, so true. :)

I am going to link up to Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday at 

Studio JRU

Before I go...thank you to sweet Diane from Diane Writes who mentioned me on her blog. I love reading about her, her family, her beautiful country & culture. It is amazing that through blogging our small corner of the world can somehow grow larger and our circle of friends broader. 

I feel very blessed! :)

XO,

Jen

Summer of Color - Green

Now green is a hard color for me. Only because I don't typically paint with it as often as other colors. I do really like green though & found it around my house quite a bit. So I apparently like to decorate with it! :) When I do paint with green, I tend to pull out my Americana Hauser Light Green - not to bright...not too dark. When Kristin chose green this week, I thought, "Hmmm, WHAT can I do?" But that is what I will enjoy about this color challenge...it forces me to use a color I may not typically. 

Funny thing is...I decided pretty quickly what to do. Since I like decorating with green...why not combine the two. My son's room has a safari/jungle theme in it & I have been wanting to paint something to hang in his room. The bedding is mainly white, brown & a really nice green. I wanted to pull some more color into his room since it has tons of brown. I used his cute comforter as inspiration & created two animal pieces for his wall above what will soon be his toddler bed. (Thank goodness he has continued to sleep in his crib & has not discovered how to climb out....yet!)

Bedding inspiration

Getting started

I used green mainly in the background. I was basing the color scheme of the animals off the bedding. I think they turned out cute, they were super fun to make, and they look darling hanging in my little LoveBug's room.

The Tiger - WIP

I created the background, then used patterned scrapbook paper (another addiction!) to make the animals as well as the border. Once it was dry I added acrylic paint to the paper to give it a more "painted" look. After that, I just used my black and white pen to add detail. 

Hanging on the wall

I made an elephant too. :)

 

And there you have it. 

Some much needed color added to my toddler's room.

I am glad the Summer of Color challenge was green this week. Otherwise this project would have sat on my mile long "To Do' list longer! :)

I am looking forward to seeing all the other green creations.

Do you like creating with green?

XOXO,

Jen