Christina Kester-Tallman
Two more letters are finished. I’m really pleased with how O looks. I really love oak, so that might have something to do with it.
I’m really getting excited to finish this phase of the project and start painting. I will have to take a break between the sketch phase and the painting phase because my son has to have surgery. No worries though, he will be fine. I just want to be able to focus my attention on him for a couple of weeks.
Ok, just a quick note to show off four more of my letter sketches. I am a little behind schedule on the alphabet, but I still plan on finishing them by August 20th.
How do mothers do it? There is a magical ability that many other mothers seem to have that enables them to raise happy, healthy children, keep a clean house, take care of themselves, and maybe even hold down a full time job and go to school.
I asked one of these mothers how she did it. Her response was “because I have to.” She didn’t think about it. She didn’t worry about it. She just did it. She also said that she was not perfect and that sometimes things don’t get done. The key is to not stress about it so much that you stop all together.
It’s time I stop spending so much time worrying and start get back on balance.
After a wonderful trip to New York to visit family, I got sick. I was in the hospital for three days. Rather than going into details, I’d like to just say that I am better now.
I finished the sketch for letter J and I painted my Koi (see the bottom of the post). I’m very happy with how the Koi came out. I got some great critique from the folks at Epilogue. If you haven’t checked them out, please do. They are a friendly bunch who offer really good critique.
Currently I am working on creating a tutorial based on painting the Koi and many more letters. My self-imposed deadline is coming soon!
If you are in need of inspiration Illustration Friday has a weekly topic for illustration. I have found that it gets me going when I am in a rut. This week’s topic is idle.
I finished the letter I and started on the letter J. I also have some preliminary sketches for the tree leaves on the letter K. I am feeling pretty confident that I can finish these within the time frame I have given myself.
Tonight I plan on shifting gears a little bit and working on painting one of my many projects. It will either be my elephant or the koi.
Two weeks after Taliesin was born I was laid off. It was both heartbreaking and a relief. I love working in the field of archaeology, but I was worried how I would be able to continue travelling so often with an infant at home and a working husband.
It has been seven months and I still do not have a job. I relish the time I have been able to spend with my son. It has been a gift. Unfortunately, we cannot afford for me to be a stay at home mom.
I have been applying to jobs from the day I was laid off. I have had very few responses from potential employers. Competition is fierce with so many people unemployed. I was told by one employer that they had several hundred applicants for one position. My experience is so specialized at first glance. The reality is that I had to do a variety of tasks to perform my job. I don’t think I have been successful at presenting this in my resume.
It is time to go back to the drawing board and see if I can create a resume that better reflects my experience.
A poem by Charles Tallman (used with permission, please do not reproduce)
the glint of onyx
whispers as ruby sands pass
a ghostly caress
Six months ago a little bundle of joy and chaos entered my life. Nothing has been the same since. I used to think that I didn’t have enough time to get things done. My perspective has since changed. Because my son, Taliesin, has needs and wants that cannot be scheduled, I have been forced to find time for simple things like making myself dinner when my husband is at work.
By doing this, however, I have found new joys. I turn making dinner into a cooking show for babies. An unexpected need for a diaper change turns into a commercial break.
The time is there. It is how we use it and whether or not we let ourselves get flustered by the unexpected that makes a difference, in my opinion.
I’ve been listening to the Ninja Mountain podcast Episode #4 (yes I am very far behind) and they have been discussing deadlines. I have been thinking a lot about time lately. While I have found more creative ways to make time for things, I still don’t get everything done that I want to.
To narrow the focus on art, I tend to start lots of projects and lose focus. This makes it difficult to finish things. Since I do not, as of yet, do art as a living, I do not really have any deadlines. I know that deadlines help keep me focused from competitions I have taken part in, so perhaps they are a way to help me finish personal projects.
One of my big projects is my alphabet I am designing for my son.
I have 18 letters left to sketch and all 26 to paint. I do better with smaller goals because they seem less daunting. So, it takes me an evening (2 or 3 hours) to finish each sketch. If I set a goal to get two sketches done a week, that has me finishing this stage by August 21st.
There. I have set my deadline and posted for the world to see. I think it is flexible enough to allow for work on some of my other projects too.
Fire Oak Studio