I know that I said Farewell in my last post, when I turned off my blog and decided not to post anything on Instagram. This was largely due to the advent of press about AI and how its creators stole from artists to train their systems. Even though none of my art was likely used for this purpose, it really made me mad. Tech bros can be just so very arrogant - claiming that it is in the best interests of humankind to disregard the copyrights on images. So, I bided my time, and did some research. I thought about Glazing my artwork before posting it up, splashing a watermark all over each image, and doubling down on the metadata, etc., but in the process I learned many things. I learned that Glaze was purportedly overcome by just 16 lines of Python code, and that there are now companies selling this feature. I then learned that Instagram and Facebook strip all metadata from images. I finally learned that Google strips all watermarks. Uh…. OK. I also learned that if I want my art to be seen, I absolutely must use Instagram.
So, on Instagram, I archived all my prior posts, which were from other part-time business ventures, and have decided to begin gearing The Colormobile’s Instagram profile to just my art. I am a person with a lot of ideas, and I always try them all. So, whereas I’d like to combine my efforts to only one Instagram page, I find that, for the sake of clarity, I will have to create separate pages for my other enterprises. Even so, as I gear my art on Instagram towards licensing and freelance work, I still have a Shop on my site for some of the more abstract work that lends itself to wall art.
In art school, I absolutely hated Drawing. This was largely because it was done in black and white, and was extremely messy. I learned the basics, but flew out of that class and never looked back. After school, I created my own painted papers and got really into collaged compositions. I also did a lot of abstract art, flinging colors everywhere, and then learned Photoshop. In 2012, Life intervened and I took a ten-year hiatus from Art.
My efforts this last year have been geared towards learning Procreate, a necessity since I live in a van, and creating more Illustrative art in order to practice and determine if I have any talent for it. I find it fun, as well as laborious, to bring illustrative scenes to life, and I still have many in mind to create, but alas these pieces do not totally lend themselves towards licensing.
As a Sagittarius rising, I am an absolute fanatic about taking classes. I especially love art classes, more often than not because they inspire me to do new and different kinds of art. I usually skip right over all the preliminary stuff (basics of art, color, etc.) and get right into the meat of the concept, style and type of art that the teacher is portraying. I don’t mind paying for a new view towards creating some exciting and different art imagery that perhaps I never would have thought of on my own. Instead of cruising Pinterest or Instagram for ideas, I’d rather take a class and see what I can come up with.
For instance, I am taking a class about painting whimsical animals, just starting with shapes. Here is a little Bighorn Sheep that somehow forged itself into existence from just a few shapes placed on the canvas:
Sheepie
Do you see? Nothing like this has ever been created by me. And these are not my normal colors, either. I hope to create many more animals like this one in the days to come.
Anyway, as I take more classes, learn new computer programs, and try new forms of art, you will see some new and different art from me. You will also probably see new abstract work for sale in my Shop, if you are a wall art customer. I will soon also be offering prints on paper, as well as those on canvas already in there.
My Instagram profile will begin anew in the next few weeks, and it will begin with my older art - the art on my website. It will take awhile for my newer art to show up, as I have to give myself plenty of time to learn and create, watermark and copyright before posting.
This brings me around to the reason for this blog post’s title - that I miss my art supplies. I really do. No joke. I am a person who loves to work with my hands. But alas, here I am in the van. Now, the reason that we are in this van is because, after 33 years of living in Arizona, we wanted to move, but didn’t know where. We thought it would be great to travel around the Country to locate where we wanted to settle. We aren’t 100% sure at this point where we will go, and we likely won’t purchase anything until a little over a year from now, but we are closer to that goal. At that point, I will renovate and decorate, and enjoy every minute of it. I will also at that point likely begin painting for real, and creating glittering festival clothing, making amazing jewelry, and painting fabulous furniture and Mexico-inspired wood and tin items with my Mexican hubbie.
While it’s true that I am getting bored of full-time Van Life after two years, when all is said and done, I will have some amazing new art skills, and we will still have the van for vacationing and visiting some of our favorite places - no, not the wilderness, but cities like Boston, lol.