Friday Thoughts Ep. 15 (Patreon)

I’m writing to you from a tiny island off the coast of another tiny island called Antigua In the southern Caribbean. I’m sitting outside on a bar stool, with my feet propped up on another bar stool while my cousins play in the pool, my aunt floats on an inflatable pineapple, and my sister walks around taking pictures. I’m on vacation... But, I definitely have Work to Do!

I hope you didn’t miss this post too much on Friday! I left Seattle on Thursday, but unfortunately one of my flights was canceled so I didn’t arrive here until Saturday afternoon. But better late than never, I have some quick updates!

There was a few big things I had to do this week before I flew off to the Caribbean. You might remember that on August 1st I’ll be showing my work for the first time (outside of school,) which gives me only a few days after I return. So I plan to have as much of everything done as I can before that time.

To get started I had to plan EXACTLY what I’m going to show, so all I have to do while I’m away is make the actual art. I started by looking at what I already had done, and planned a number of new pieces that would work well together. 

Last week I shared my series on objects that I have planned and sketched out. I also decided to do a series of 5”x 7” gouache paintings on a rainbow of produce (because we know I love produce.) A rule of thumb that I am working toward with my art is making art that I would buy or like to see. This rainbow produce series would definitely catch my eye.

After I planned exactly what I wanted to make and at what size, I went in to downtown Ballard to buy ALL of my frames, and extra materials to bring with me. 

** The big price tag attached to buying all of these materials stressed me out at the time, but I’m happy to thank my patrons for helping me fund the purchase! Thanks guys, you’re directly making this show possible! **

While waiting on all of my flights and changed and cancelled flights, I spent that waiting time in the airport working on the four digital pieces I’ll be showing. I did these watercolors a few months ago. I like them, but my style has changed quite a bit since then. To help tie them in to my current style and technique, I used my new Procreate process to update them.

Before I left I also measured out my sketch paper for my finished works. This is a great tip if you’re working traditionally: take a piece of cheap sketch paper and measure out the size of the final paper in light pencil, then measure and draw a small border, and measure and draw centerlines vertically and horizontally. Then you can work out your sketch on that paper, erase and redraw as many times as you like. When you’re sketch is finished, trace that sketch lightly on to your final paper using a light box or taped to a window. Boom, super clean!

Finally, I’m happy to share my milestone of 1,000 followers on Instagram! (Since then I’ve reached 1,500, wow!) My happiness and emotional worth is not tied to my amount of followers on Instagram, but as a business I think it is definitely helpful to have a wider audience. I realized this a few weeks ago,  when my audience was fairly stagnant. I had people being very sweet and supportive, but I guessed that the percentage of my audience who wanted to buy something from me probably already had.  I‘m happy to say that that slow period of growth has (for now) moved on!

Non-Art Life: I’m in the Caribbean with my extended family, including 3 of my Patrons! It’s a Patron retreat! I wish I could have brought all of you!  (Wow wouldn’t an art retreat with all of us be so much fun?? Hm.....)

Sorry for the short and late update! I love you all much much much and hope you have a wonderful week!

xoxo

Ragon