I mostly finished my Beauty mixed media painting last weekend. I still need to seal it, but the painting part of it is complete.

I’m still getting used to working with acrylics, since I’ve been an oil painter most of my adult life. Even in high school I gravitated toward oils. But my goal this summer is to keep stretching my creative skills and working outside of my comfort zone–and I’m determined to keep moving forward. I like how this turned out, but I don’t ‘love’ it. I did enjoy the process the most though! And it’s given me ideas for other things.

I’m really just trying to find my own creative voice. I don’t think I’ve ever had a creative voice that is uniquely me. You know, where you could look at my artwork and know that Tina Grimes painted that. It’s frustrating. But that just makes me more determined than ever to find it. I wish my Mom was here to help me. She always had the best advice, creative or otherwise.

Also, just so you’ll know, my blog/website was hacked recently, and I’m still working to get that fixed. [Thanks, Michael for being an ASS and proving that you never loved my mother.] So if my blog disappears briefly at any point in the near future, please don’t give up on it. It’s just part of the process of fixing everything. I basically have to delete everything here and reinstall it all. Assuming I don’t screw it up in doing so. Please hang in there with me during this process. And if you don’t follow me on Facebook you might want to, because I will post updates there if the blog will be down for any length of time.

Thanks a bunch!

Just an update to show this week’s progress on my ‘Beauty‘ mixed media painting. It’s not finished yet, but I did get a lot done. And just a note–the background is not actually the color of blue that it appears to be in the photo. It’s actually turquoise blue. I took this photo with my iPhone and it’s never 100% great or accurate with photos that are taken indoors. But oh well.

I actually hated this painting a little ways into it. I almost gave up on it. But then I got some ideas going in my head and just kept plugging away at it–mostly because I love the drawing part of it and I didn’t want to see it wasted! So even though I still don’t love it, I don’t quite hate it anymore. And I am going to see it through to the finish…love it or not. After all, this is about getting outside of my comfort zone–learning new things and trying new techniques, right?! I can’t grow if I don’t try new things, so I must keep going! The next photo I post will likely be the finished product (I hope), so stay tuned!