Portraits into paintings

Another fantastic A.D.D. project!  I say that just because it was something I was able to hyper-focus on that kept me stimulated for a full day…. needless to say I didn’t get much else done around the house, but I actually FINISHED this artwork so I felt like I had finally accomplished something

I’m working on a new “take” for my photography business.  To create ART, not just photographs.  I know, I know, most would argue that a lot of photographs ARE indeed art by themselves and I would not dispute that.  I guess what I’m talking about is a way I can combine some of my talents such as my digital painting and illustration talents with my talent for photography   And hopefully I can carve out a “niche” for myself in the photography world.

So…. I’m not exactly a wedding photographer…. I’ve shot a couple of weddings but I specialize in portraits.  So I found a great STOCK image on DeviantArt and decided to turn it into a painting digitally.  Let me just say before-hand that this is not created with a Photoshop filter or action.  I created each and every brush stroke in the image by hand   It took about 6-7 hours total.  Now THAT’s hyper-focused!  And yes, I did take breaks to stretch my legs and use the bathroom and eat meals too!

I am sorry that it’s hard to see the brush strokes in the full image.  That’s kind-of the way it is when posting images on a blog.  But here is another picture with some detail sections to show you the brush strokes of the actual image.

I would like to start doing commissioned work of this type too, where people can submit photos to me and I can turn them into paintings and then prints or gallery wraps.  I would obviously prefer to photograph the people myself where I would have control over composition and lighting, but if I offer this service over the internet it opens up my market quite a bit

Please feel free to comment and give feedback.  I’d love to hear what you think.

xoxo

‘Tis the Season…..

Well it’s that time of year, for decorating, crafts, baking and shopping!

I’ve decided to go through some of my Christmas decorations this year and get rid of some stuff so I can decorate more “simply”.  I’ve had a bunch of “mish-mash” decorations for years and years now.  A lot of hand-me-downs that are tattered, broken etc.  I decided this year to simplify my decorations by going with a plain wreath with green LED lights and two wire/ivy trees with white LED lights on top of the piano.  I decided to go with LED this year.  While they cost more upfront they use a fraction of the electricity as regular lights do.  I’m kind-of a Christmas light freak so I figured I would save where I could.

I put this decoration together the other night after buying these two little trees at Fred Meyer for $9.99 a piece.  The planter is a Pottery Barn planter that I’ve had sitting outside since this past summer with nothing in it.  It was a gift from a family friend.  The silver ornaments are leftover from a few years ago as is the ribbon.  I’ve decided on a green and silver theme with a hint of red.  I have a couple of other “projects” up my sleeve that I will be blogging about later (once I buy the supplies to create them).

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping this year and it’s only December 1st!  I decided to get a jump start and I did a LOT of my shopping online this year.  I’ve been really happy with the results.  I’ve gone out to Christmas shop only once and it was NOT on Black Friday (NO WAY!).  I only have one more person to buy for (whom I am waiting for to give me some IDEAS).  Other than that I have a couple of silly stocking stuffer things to get.  I am really happy that I will be able to enjoy December baking and doing crafts instead of running back and forth from the mall and shopping center

Speaking of CRAFTS!!!  This is a little project I started last week.  I’ve had this pad of Holiday scrapbooking paper for a couple of years now.  I’ve used a few pieces here and there for cards and whatnot, but I’m not really into scrapbooking so I’ve been trying to figure out ways to use this beautiful paper (either that or give it away!).  I decided to cut up the 12×12 sheets into little strips to fold and make gift tags.  But I couldn’t stop there!  I cut little white squares of paper and used my Holiday rubber stamp collection to stamp images onto the paper.  After that I used an old paint brush, some craft glue and my Martha Stewart glitter to jazz them up a bit.  I may have gotten a little carried away…..but I was having so much FUN with this!  Aren’t they cute?!?!

I think the snowflakes are my favorites!  Some of them I drew myself, like this one.  I just drew the shape lightly with a pencil and painted the glue on before sprinkling the glitter.  The photo doesn’t show how sparkly and glittery they are.  They’re really cute!

This snowman turned out pretty cute too!  This one is from one of my rubber stamps.  Unfortunately I had to stop using the stamps because my stamp pads were all nasty from being in storage.  The foam was starting to disintegrate and make the stamping process pretty sloppy.

This was a great project for my ADD personality.  It gave me something fun to do for several hours a couple nights in a row and now I have a nice little collection of hand-made gift tags!

Happy crafting everyone!  Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

XOXOX

Kim

A.D.D. at it’s all time LOW? or HIGH?

Ok so my brain is freaking out.  I NEED stimulation right now.  It’s been a while since I had a project to hyper focus on and provide me with stimulation.  The last couple of weeks I’ve tried to “chill”.  Watch movies, go to the mall, go shopping, get stuff done around the house.

I’m seriously going through withdrawals like a crack-addict with no crack.

It’s the weirdest sensation – I’m not comfortable in my own skin, I’m twitchy.  I feel like I NEED to do something but I don’t know what.

Several ideas pop into my head – I can do some artwork on my computer in Photoshop, but WHAT?!  What do I draw?  What do I paint?  Where to start?  I can work on my therapeutic art journal… but what do I want to create?  I’m fresh out of artistic ideas.  There are chores I could do around the house… but that doesn’t sound stimulating at ALL!

I guess I’ll open up Photoshop and see where it takes me!

CIAO!

Getting A.D.D. diagnosed….

SO…. I THINK I have A.D.D.  And anyone that knows me would probably laugh out loud and say DUH!!

But seriously, this is not something I really thought about getting diagnosed and treated for as an adult.  So many doctors, websites and articles talk about your KIDS… get them diagnosed and start pumping them with Ritalin….

I hadn’t honestly considered it a REAL option for me until I talked to a friend of a friend at a party one night and she had been diagnosed and had taken medication for it.  But in talking with her about her struggles, problems, frustrations with life I realized it was like I was looking into a mirror.  It was scary and very comforting at the same time.  When I talked about my own personal struggles she nodded at me again and again and again.  It was a relief to FINALLY talk to someone who seemed to UNDERSTAND me!!!

After that I went out and bought a couple of books about adult A.D.D.  What an eye-opener.  I think it was chapter two that listed the top ten behavioral symptoms of people with A.D.D.  Ummmmm yeah….. I had each and every single behavioral symptom to some degree or another.  Several of which have been very frustrating for myself, my family and my relationships.  I will get into that more in another post.

The repeatedly states how important it is to get diagnosed and try medication to help stabilize brain function.  People with A.D.D. actually have SLOWER brain function.  So we are addicted to stimulation…. stimulation makes us feel NORMAL.  And we will seek it out wherever we can get it…. even by picking fights with our loved ones.  Because ANY form of stimulation is better than NO stimulation.  It’s not something that we do maliciously, it’s totally subconscious.  And we honestly need stimulation to feel NORMAL.  Without it, we can fall into deep depression and basically wither away.

So since I have read this book I have talked to a few other adults who are currently on medication (adderall) for A.D.D. and they have told me it’s LIFE-CHANGING.  So I’m thinking I would really like to give it a try.  But first I need to get diagnosed and referred so I can get counseling as well.

Some serious sh*t has gone down at work lately and I can’t really afford to take the time off to go to the doctor/therapist for the next couple of weeks.  But it’s the slow season right now so I should be able to get in there soon and I will keep my blog up to date on my progress

I’m looking forward to being able to COMPLETE things, without getting bored or distracted.  I’m looking forward to not being sad and depressed with I have nothing to do.  I am REALLY looking forward to not picking fights out of boredom!!

We’ll see where this road takes me