Getting Art Boards Cut & Prepared To Paint

Plywood Panels + Gesso + Venetian Plaster

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone what a difficult and confusing week this has been...we are all in this together!  It felt odd trying to post art I did or art I liked that someone else did...or anything happy and pretty when the world seemed to be coming to a screeching halt...it just didn't feel right.  As this first week of social distancing progressed,  I started to reach out and find ways to stay connected...with my friends,  family both near and far,  and students I've become so accustomed to having in my life everyday.  What a difference that made...very uplifting.

And while I'm not feeling a painting in me at the moment, I do like to keep busy and feel like I'm accomplishing something in all this time I have on my hands...before you know it we'll all be back to our regular routines and complaining that we don't have enough time!  So...chop wood, carry water as they say...time to get some of the basics taken care of, which I'm sure will get the creative juices flowing and I'll be back at my easel.

I ticked off my list by doing three projects in one this week...

#1. set up a FaceBook group for my students and add content to keep them creating
#2. I've been long overdue with adding videos to my YouTube channel
#3. get that stack of 12x12 boards sanded, gessoed and plastered so I can paint on them

I prepped the panels, made videos of the process, posted it to my students FB page...
done + done + done...
3 in one.

You can check out all three videos on my channel HERE.

So now I have 32 panels to create some art on.  I love painting on Venetian plaster, so some of the boards got a coat of plaster as the first layer...you can see how I did that HERE. This busy work certainly kept me distracted and really happy to have my hands in paint and plaster.

I also simply added gesso and color to some of the panels HERE...less texture will be better for me to glue papers onto...looking forward to that distraction too!

I still have a list going of more projects to get to in my studio, and somewhat of a schedule so I stay focused and not let my mind wander to the dark side and questioning the what if's going on outside in the world. 

Look for things that make you happy and feel safe.
These are just moments in time and we're all going through it together...
and if everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.