Day 5 Comparalysis... What in the World is THAT?

Comparalysis, it's a deadly thing that we all face.  Comparalysis can strike any one at any time, and if you've had the chicken pox, the Comparalysis virus is already living inside you.

Ok so what I said isn't entirely true; the chicken pox has nothing to do with it at all, but we all are at risk of falling victim to 'Comparalysis', and yes, it DOES already live inside each of us. There is a lot of fear involved in presenting yourself in a situation where you feel inexperienced.  It's disconcerting to feel like the 'newbie'. Here is another story for you...

The summer after 6th grade, my mom insisted that I learn how to play the flute so I could be in band at the start of 7th grade.  I didn't want to be in band or play the flute, I already played the violin.  I liked it, and that was enough.  Besides, all the other kids started their band instruments in 5th grade so I would be 2 years behind.  Looking back, I'm wondering if she just wanted me out of the house that summer.  She signed me up for 6 weeks of free 'learn a band instrument' classes.  ugh...  Anyway, I was the only kid above the 4th grade and it was humiliating.  It took me two weeks just to get a sound to come out of that stupid flute, even though I was trying really hard. Some of those 4th graders got it the first day.  Fast forward to the first week of 7th grade...

We're learning how to march and play at the same time, in the middle of a neighborhood street.  Mr. Kondik was the band director. (I'm mentioning his name because a tiny evil part of me is hoping he is dead, and the other bigger evil part of me is hoping he is reading this)  He split the band into two sides on the curb of the street, and made my entire section march one at a time while playing the 'fight song' down the center of the street.  To say the very least, I couldn't play the fight song sitting still if my life depended on it.  When my turn came to march down the street with that flute in front of 75, 7th-9th graders, it was not pretty.  The ridicule that followed made me want to throw that flute into the Atlantic Ocean, and I bet I could have thrown it there all the way from Ohio.  

We'll talk about the end of the story later on but for now, I have noticed a lot of folks are feeling like they'll never be able to compare their work to that of some others. This is a pretty new form of art for all of us.  Think about that!  People have been drawing with powdered glass for such a short amount of time, we are all at the beginning of discovering what the possibilities are! It doesn't matter how 'good or bad' we think our work is now!  JUST KEEP MAKING WORK. Forget about that negative feeling and get busy letting yourself create. 

(and a side note for the rest of you who think you don't know how to make a blog or upload your photos.... GET BUSY and try it again. You won't regret it.  Don't give up so easily.)

Today's Challenge is mostly the same as yesterday, and tomorrow it will be the same as today.  It's for a good reason.  This is the time when you will learn more than you thought you could, and it will pay off in the next couple of weeks.  One of our 'challenge buddies' made a comment today saying that she tore the business card and made several 'tools' with it.  Hurray for you, Janet Geise Zambai (insert fireworks and mass praises from the innovator folks)!

Nobody said you couldn't change, tear, mutilate, the business card.... I was waiting to see who would do

it first!

Feel free to demolish that business card and make it into something more 'useable' for today's challenge. Another 5 for 5 is on for today, and I forgot to mention that sifters are always ok to use, no matter what the challenge is. Check back tomorrow for further adaptations!

Here are my photos for today, again one is a sgraffito sketch, and one is an alcohol ink painting for my other challenge. I'm not happy with either of them, but I'm out of time and I want to go to bed before 1 am tonight so I can get kids to school in the morning :)

Yesterday's sketch.  I added some Tangerine Orange Opal powder , along with some Sunset Coral and Neo Lavender.  I am planning to tweak this combination, as I have never used Tangerine Orange opal before in this combination.  I'll do more in this 'scenario' and post my results.

This just plain sucks.  I had no time today and this is what I ended up with in the painting mess of a challenge.

Here we go. My sucky 5 minute sgraffito sketch. It was supposed to be me, but I don't have bangs. lol

An InLinkz Link-up

Money on Trees and an Accidental Lemon Yellow incident involving a Dog with a Cone

Ok today was just silly, but read on, it's a good laugh.

I started out painting on Day #24 with the knowledge that I only had about 2 hours to fool around with this 30 paintings in 30 days challenge and the rest of the day needed to be productive since I have a show this weekend.  I had one canvas board left, and of course it was an 11x14, so it was going to take longer than I wanted.  I decided on something simple.  Money plants.  

I like money plants.  I remember my parents growing them.  For months they looked like a pile of weeds, and when the whole summer had passed, we got to help peel the leaves off to reveal the shiny insides.  I was about 5 years old and completely convinced that if I were careful enough, perhaps there might be some real money inside one of them.  Why else would my parents plant such a thing and spend so much time on them?  Looking back, I remember hearing someone say "Money doesn't grow on trees" and I was so disappointed for my parents, who kept trying to grow it.  Ha!  Anyway, I had a nice time reminiscing and painting along, thinking "dang, these things are HARD to paint, why did I pick this anyway"  when suddenly the front door of my studio flies open....

Now, just a wee bit of background here.  I have a little compulsion for musical instruments, and need to sell a few of them.  Mainly, 3 trombones.  My husband's friend, the high school band director was coming over and my husband decided it would be good to drag these trombones into the studio to see if he could tell us what they were worth.  My studio is set up for working in glass, not oil painting. I have no place set aside for paintings to dry, and as the end of this challenge draws near I have a pile of wet paintings lying about wherever I can find a place.  There are paper towels covered in turpentine and wet paint right outside my door so as not to cause a fire inside.  I have palette paper covered in paint from the last painting lying on a low table, and my cello is standing in it's case right near the front door. There is no room for these trombones.

Fast forward...

Mr. Honse comes in the door, which means the cello has to quickly be moved and I warn him (too late) about all the wet paint rags he just stepped in and now it's all over his shoes.  Then WHAM here comes my overly protective golden retriever in his CONE to see who is in the studio.  Cone drags through the palette paper, grabs a nice glob of lemon yellow all over, and in a matter of a second this poor guy has bright yellow oil paint all over his black coat and black dress pants.... aye...

So here's to today's painting effort, to all dogs who have been banished to cones, and to band directors everywhere.  Love you Buddy:)