Lifestyle Arts: watercolor

This will be the first edition of "5 Little Things You May Want to Know About Me." I thought it would be good if every once in awhile I share some simple facts about me, my life, what I like, what I don't like, etc.

As I talked yesterday in my blog, I have made a lifestyle change. A big/huge part of that is drinking lots, and lots of water. Many times we confuse our dehydration with being hungry, so by caring water around with me all the time it helps me fight some cravings. One draw back... heading to the bathroom a lot more.

I received this lovely study Bible for Christmas this past year from my Grammy and Papa. I had been wanting one for awhile and got to go pick it out with my Grammy ahead of time. It's a New American Standard, Life Application Study Bible. I've really loved having it, especially at this stage in my life and relationship with Christ. I really have been craving a deeper relationship with God and a better understanding of His word. Very excited about the future journey I'll be taking with this beside me.

I love it when people smell good. You know when someone is near you and you have to find out what their wearing, or when you hug someone and it's just like, "Yum!" Well I figure that if I like it when other people smell real nice they probably wouldn't mind me smelling pretty good too. So, for all of you that have asked me what I wear... Heat by Beyonce is my scent. I'm a big fan of Beyonce. My celebrity, diva, alter ego would definitely be Beyonce so when she came out with this perfume I had to try it. Fell in love with it and made it my scent. It's spicy hot and kind of sweet.

For the longest time my jewelry was stored in boxes and a small jewelry box but the problem was that it all just blended together. I ended up wearing the same stuff all the time or just not putting anything on because it was harder to go through. I knew I needed a way to display it all for easy access. I come up with this contraption below about a year and a half ago. I took a cork board I had already and attached string going across from side to side, supported by some push pins the top to hang earrings from. Then I just pushed in pins on the bottom to hang necklaces from. I have loved having this. I can see what I have and easily pair things together with an outfit. Now I just have to put something together for my earring studs, rings, and some other accessories.

This is my "Little One." His name: Manasseh. His nicknames: Little One, Chicken Little, Fudgie, Fudge Poppie, Corduroy, Fudgie Roy, Nasseh. Since coming home he has become my little buddy. We go on walks around the neighborhood, up at the lake, or hiking in the woods. He's not much of a cuddler but I force him to and he's getting better. I love the picture in the bottom right hand corner because today after coming in from our walk/run this morning he plopped down on my tennis shoes. So cute.Source URL: https://lifestyleartsblogs.blogspot.com/search/label/watercolor
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In the beginning... I drew.

I wanted to put up some of my old art pieces to show where my passion started.

I grew up with art in my blood. Genetics, you might say, from my dad's side. My dad has always been artistic and I grew up with him drawing little sketches, especially while the pastor was teaching at church. He had these great characters he would draw and even made a family called the "Derf" family with the main character, Fred Derf (Derf comes from spelling Fred backwards). In addition, my dad’s mom, in other words, my Grammy, was an art teacher for several years at a private Christian school. And when she retired from teaching, the school created and named an art award after her called the "Crystal Sexton Art Award." I remember having my first art lesson with her. We sat at the round kitchen table and drew a little flower and then painted in watercolor. I continued to have art lessons with her as I got older. During the summer months, my best friend and I would go to her house for lessons; and when we weren't distracting each other, we did some great work.

As a little girl, I wrote stories and then illustrated them. One of my first was about a mouse named Betsy who saved the day by killing a snake in her schoolhouse classroom with her pencil. And in the fourth grade, I wrote a story about a girl who brought her painting to life and went inside it. She was painting a rainbow, but when she ran out of red paint, she used her blood. The life from her blood brought the painting to life and she escaped into this new world. As she traveled through this land, she brought color and life back to what had become a land of black, white, and gray.

I am a non-traditional artist. Never crazy enough to fit in with the artsy-fartsy kids and yet never normal enough to fit in with all the...well…normal kids either. Rarely was I trying to make a political statement with my art nor was I a tortured soul who preferred to be left alone to work. Instead, I love being with people. In fact, some of my favorite work is portraits. Being able to capture someone is better than a stuffy still life. It wasn't until high school that I actually started to think that maybe I could have a career involving my artistic gifts. I never desired to be a fine artist, but I started to learn about this graphic design field. It was a way for me to mix art with business.

So I went to college and I became a graphic designer. But I haven't forgotten where it all started. And as I move on, I hope to do some more personal art projects as well as mixing the two mediums together. When I'm working on a project that I am really invested in and I'm able to block out all other distractions and dig in, I call it the "zone." It's kind of like going home, back to the basics, a happy place. When I'm in that zone, I am at my best and I am cookin'. At one point in time, I did a project in pastels that captured the Mary Cassatt idea of Mother and Child. Immediately I got swept away and did this piece in just over an hour. It's been awhile since I've been able to work like that, so I'm excited to dig in to a new project and get swept away again.

I don't have work from before high school available to put on here but here's some stuff I did in high school and some from my first year of college