Tag Archives: etsy

The struggle is real

The struggle is real when it comes to creating something out of nothing. I have yet to meet an artist for whom the art flows freely all the time. Every encounter with the canvas is a challenge, but some days are better than others! Thank God for that.

I find that crafts are so much easier, but they don’t always turn out right either, especially when created from scratch. If you have a pattern you can create something great immediately, and it’s a wonderful feeling.

I love painting, but why does it have to be such a struggle? I have written a lot about resistance to art-making. It is explained really well in Steven Pressfield’s book THE WAR OF ART, break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles. It’s a great read if you’re struggling. What has saved me is persistence, “make art every day.” I wrote a post about that HERE.

In the face of struggle, keep coming back

You have to continue to make art to grow, to bust through the daily resistance. As you know, I paint intuitively so any given day, I have no idea what will appear in my art, and it’s a constant challenge.

I put down layer upon layer on the canvas, mostly hating the combination of paint, paper, and Mod Podge. I took some pictures of my current paintings, and right now they are total chaos.

Some people might say they are finished the way they are, and who’s to say they are wrong? But if they don’t feel done to me, I have to keep going. I finished a couple of paintings last week. They both looked similar to the ones above when I went for the finished layer. I saw some shapes of animals in the mess and went from there.

I love painting pets so I was happy with these weird creatures. As you can see, there’s a lot of bleed-through of the underlying layers.

More often than not, I add the paintings to the pile leaning against the wall for later work. They might get gessoed over or I might see a way to repaint them, but there’s no guarantee.

As with anything challenging, you have to face the fear/resistance/doubt/disgust as you tackle the task in front of you. The same goes for any unpleasant task in life, but art should not be unpleasant, and it isn’t, just challenging.

When I get sick of painting, I make my crafts. They might not come out the way I envisioned, but they are always fun. They also create balance in my life. These are all available in my Etsy shop. The paintings will be available too. I sell a lot of the spirit doll faces, so I always make a batch.

It’s easy to overthink the process of art-making. When I’m in the flow, I trust my hand to make the right moves on the canvas. When I think about it, or worry about the color, nothing comes out right, and I start doubting the process, doubting myself. I set the painting aside and come back later.

If you missed my post about resistance, you can catch it HERE. I think all artists struggle in the studio from time to time, but we can support each other with inspiration or suggestions.

Have a wonderful week creating lots of things!

Maria

Art journal inspiration and the precarious balance of being an artist

Art journal inspiration coming up in this post. You might have already seen the videos if you’re in my Facebook group, but if not, I have some tips and tricks for you.

I have been somewhat bummed out since the precarious balance of making a living as an artist has tipped toward the “lack of sales” side of the scales.

Something is going on with the online algorithms, and I feel that I’m ruled by the whims of whatever the “new” ways etsy and other online venues are trying to control who sees my art.

The venues are getting more and more restrictive. Facebook does not show your art to many people unless you take out ads, and then the results are iffy, and you’re out $$$.

Maybe it’s time to go local again?? Make some new friends who like my art and who don’t mind opening their wallets.

Online, you work mostly with strangers, but it is convenient.

Even if this vague something is constricting sales for various reasons, it won’t stop me from remaining (always) an artist.

Yes, it’s possible to stop making art, but if that is what I love to do, why compromise??

It is a test of faith.

I have posted some new art and mosaic crafts in my etsy shop lately, and here is my latest painting.

abstract art
Abstract art

I couldn’t come up with a name for it, but maybe you can help me? Post in comments, please.

I made two art journaling tutorials on YouTube, and you can check them out.

Adding dimension to your art journal pages.

Autumn goddess, Life’s Song art journal pages.

Maybe those will help to inspire. 🙂

I love trying different techniques and media in my art journals. More often than not, the pages don’t turn out that  great, but I was happy with these.

What are you working on?

My words of wisdom for this week: If you want to walk a path of magic, you have to do the work or live the same ole, same ole….

More inspiring blog posts: Long Journey of art. 

Fear Holding You Back?

Have a great weekend!

Lots of love,

Maria

P.S. Join my Facebook art group if you haven’t already. Art Exploration with Maria Greene.

 

 

Are you stuck?

Are you stuck right now? I have been stuck many times, and since I’m a DOER I’ve always struggled and fought against the condition. It happens when I don’t have clarity of where I’m going.

It’s ok to be stuck. Actually, invite the sucker in and sit with it for a while, fix it some tea, and see what it has to say.  Stuck came to me like a brick wall, and I sat by the wall and asked what it needed to be happy.

brick-wall
brick wall

Security, safety, it said.  I don’t want to change; it’s too risky.

To get unstuck involves change.

If you have an idea what you want to do, but stop yourself before you even get started, you have fear. My brick wall was solid fear, but when I accepted it, relaxed into it, and had the conversation over tea, it released somewhat. It became more reasonable.

Embrace the fear, allow it a voice, and see how you can accommodate it and watch it melt away. Make a friend of fear, and know it’s not the end of the world.

When you are struggling and trying to break through with force, you’ll only get more stuck.

Making friends, relaxing, allowing, embracing all of you in a caring manner is the way to release the resistance.

Stuck no more!

It might take a few tries, a few conversations with your fear, but after a while it will melt away, and the path forward gets clearer every day.

I have been painting quite a lot lately.  Here are some pictures of my latest art.

Hold them close
Hold them close

fantasy fish
Fantasy fish

flowers
Flowers

Lots of soft shades of blue and turquoise. I’m really into those colors lately.

I have a sale right now in my two etsy shops. 20% off everything until midnight Sunday November 27. EARTH AND FAERY and GREENE EARTH ORIGINALS. The above paintings are for sale in the last etsy link. Christmas is coming…

I wish you all sorts of great creativity in the coming week!

xo

Maria

 

 

What Jane wanted.

What Jane (Austen) wanted might be a strange title, but that is what came to me as I pondered the finished art.  Who knows what yearnings she had, but she would not have showed up without a bonnet or a DRESS anywhere.  Those were the polite rules of the day.  Her hair would not have been as messy either, but in my heat of creative passion I took some artistic license.

DSCN2123
What Jane wanted.

I can tell you the process this art went through. I started out with a layer of various colorful papers all across the canvas.  I usually tear those and just put them down randomly with medium, making sure the edges are well glued down.  Then a painted a couple of layers, did some spatters and runny paint patterns.

I added the birds, and they are cut from paper that I painted turquoise and glued down on some black paper. The yellow legs are also glued down paper that I painted.

I added some more paper for texture and painted the face with charcoal and acrylic paints.

To be honest there was another portrait under all of this that I ended up hating so I painted over it with white paint–another layer.  I saved the areas that I liked, and embellished others.

This is usually how my art evolves but sometimes I paint straight without mixed media.  I still use many layers of paint to get the effect that I like. Layers will create the depth that I prefer.

This art is now for sale in my etsy shop HERE. Lots of other goodies there as well.

If you would like to check out some of my fun ecourses, go to this link HERE. 

I always like to try new things when it comes to art. I wish you a creative week. Time flies, so we might as well do something fun…

Happy creation,

Maria xo