INSPIRED!

I am a believer that art can not be forced.  If I get bit by the art bug and the kids are sleeping... get the F out of my way and don't expect the dishes to be done, because IT'S ON.  But sometimes the smallest things can become a roadblock.  Like if I cant find the stack of old playboys I bought from one of my friends dad's 10 years ago, and I NEED them for a collage idea I have.  I might just stop dead in my painted tracks.  Or, an unfortunate example, the Hello Kitty cradle I worked on so diligently... something went wrong and I have all but abandoned that project.  Maddy still asks about it though, so I know I will finish it eventually.  I think I feel stifled sometimes, by my kids and my lack of contact with the adult world.  Working made me feel productive in a way that having a clean house just doesn't.  But last night, I think I busted down another self created restriction in my quest to regain my artistic side.

I found my old portfolio from highschool!  I was in "AP" art, which was sweet because when my smart friends would talk about the rigors of their advanced placement chemistry and math classes, I would just shrug and smile and say 'I KNOW what you mean, AP classes are tough!'.  It wasn't tough.  It was great.  It was fun and inspiring to work with a class of creative people.  We messed around, we did what we wanted.  We ditched class and went to taco bell and our all knowing teacher would just shake his head and ask us how our latest project was coming along.  Anyways, this mini trip down memory lane helped me return to the creative mind set I once held.  My stuff wasn't great... but it was decent, and I am still proud of most of the pieces. I found old sketch pads (lots of pages left for my current creative self) with old ideas, pencil sketches of old friends and rough sketches of projects I was working on.  To say the least, I felt INSPIRED!  In addition to sketch pads, I found a canvass to paint over and use, and a pad of paper to PAINT on.  PAINT?  unheard of!

It's so neat how much I remember about the models who posed for my class, just by by looking at the old sketches.
I remember this woman was really funny and super fun to draw.  

This was supposed to be a color study, I just liked it so much that its been hanging in my kitchen since we moved here.
 I will never finish it, the paint I used was at least ten years old and the canvass was an old one I found and gesso-ed over.  

I am aching to have an art day with the kids.  I feel anxious; if I don't use this little burst of creativity then I am afraid it will fade.  I started (ANOTHER) notebook of ideas and what nots.  Hopefully my current restrictions, the lack of a camera (thanks ebay seller eforcity-select for screwing me over and trying to scam me, you will NOT get away with this!!) my lack of internet, my lack of TIME, always... hopefully they are still not enough to weigh me down!

hard at work