Did You Say Pumpkin?!

Sunday Funday! The first of many more visits to the pumpkin patch with the family. We couldn't have picked a better day to stroll around and let our inner child out. I secretly think we (adults) were more excited then the little guy! He did need a little time to warm up. I wouldn't blame him either with 3 ladies taking photos any chance they got. The crowd was light when we arrived so we were able to enjoy the farm. 

All in all it was a trip to remember and high-fives for beating the traffic! I'm grateful to have two wonderful ladies in my life that have become more like sisters. This year we have become much more close and I for one, have embraced friendship more then I ever have. I hope that you all enjoyed your pumpkin patch visits!

You can't leave the pumpkin patch without taking a hay ride or hoping on the train. The little got to play in the kid zone as we happily snapped photos of anything and everything. The train ride itself was great! I loved all the little decorations and little town setups. Hopefully they have something like this for Christmas.

 

Pumpkin hugs, Starlynn

Fall Pallet & Still Life

If you haven't heard, it's Pumpkin Season! I'm pretty sure many of us have taken a trip to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, made a pumpkin dish or indulged in a pumpkin beverage...or maybe not. Maybe you had strawberry pie instead and I'm jealous. 

Lately I've been taking a closer look at objects around me. Whether it be while out at a coffee shop, sitting at my desk, or walking down the street. I'm noticing shadows, mixture of colors and where light meets dark. With the Fall weather finally setting in the scenery is starting to change. I have to admit, I'm falling in love more and more as the days go on. The leaves and trees are my absolute favorite! It's no surprise that I've been going to the same brown, yellow and orange color pallet while drawing. 

 Drawing 15-30 minutes per day has given me a creative boost. I've seen growth and also areas that need more work. It's like a daily assignment I have with myself but no pressure as to when it gets done. A little flashback of being in the school's art studio for hours. (giggle) It's no secret, I dream of having an art studio.

Dimension, color and grey?
Seeing the grey pull through the stem and casting a shadow.

Cups, cylinders and spheres have always been a challenge. 

Attempt at drawing a coffee mug and an apple. 

Show up each and every day.

xo

Starlynn

Oil Pastels Are Here To Stay

Nearly a month since experimenting with oil pastels and let's just say I'm hooked. These no-name brand babies have been tagging along in my purse for weeks now. They may be a bit messy but I love their vibrant color and ability to blend. It's also a lot more convenient to use while out and about at a coffee shop or traveling to and from. 

Now that I have some experience under my belt, I'm thinking of upgrading. Do you have brand or set that you love? If so, what do you recommend? The excitement level is growing as the search starts for new supplies. Imagine what better quality oil pastels can do?! Until then, I'll keep on blending!

xo

Starlynn

Art Journal Wisdom: Flow & Love

Day 8: Flow

Finding your flow...settling down with a blank page, Norah Jones playing in the background and no plan. A mixture of yellow, orange and blue quickly covered the white paper. I felt rushed, unsatisfied and in no control. That's the worst feeling...frustration builds and every mark you make doesn't connect to another. I had to walk away and take a new approach to the page. 
Second go around introduced brown, mustard and more orange. Then came the eyes...big and bold. The hair or hat of some sort appeared at the top. I couldn't get myself to look away from this sacred beings eyes. Never have I felt so scared of what I had painted. We looked at one another...what did this mean? Where did he/she come from? Things appear when you are in this magical place of flow. Great things can happen and even some are life changing. The third time and 100 layers (exaggerating just a bit) later came beautiful petals and circles representing rain. Life. The layers peeked through the raindrops, the petals embrace what was. I was no longer unsatisfied.

 Flow is finding that comfy spot on the floor or at your craft table. Your music blasting or you simply sitting in silence. It may even be placing yourself in a locked room with no distractions for a set amount of time. Flow is trusting your brush, heart and soul. 

___________________________

Day 9: Love

I have this saying that I picked up earlier this year. “Do what you love, love what you do.” Think about it…what do you love doing? What are you truly passionate about? How has embracing what you love doing changed your life? I know one thing for sure, it has brought me here to the blogger world. It has made me care less about material things and focus on the simplicity. It's kept me sheltered most days and out of the "boring" club. The year is not up but I can say doing what I love has changed everything I've done this year.
Today's page spread started as first crush hearts scribbled over a white page. Yes, very cliche. I've incorporated movement and connection into my art journaling process. I tend to look for images or ways to block off areas to paint. To my surprise I noticed a dove like figure appear on the right side. Then came the bird and hills. Dabs of left over paint turned into Dr. Seuss trees. "Oh the place we go!" The hearts peeked through, a coffee sleeve served as a stamp and doodles made their way on the bird. The urge to journal was there but I liked how beautiful everything looked. 
I love the simplicity! 

Dr. Seuss inspired trees. Coffee sleeve stamp and simple doodles.

   

xo Starlynn

Art Journal Wisdom - Morning Pages And Experimenting

Day 6: Morning Pages

Late last spring I dove into writing Morning Pages as one of The Artist Date adventures. Every morning for 16 weeks I sat with tea/coffee and wrote 3 pages of anything and everything that came to mind. It was so relieving and kept me focused on my daily routine. Then one day it all stopped.
Fast forward to today, I'm not writing 3 pages but at a minimum, a page each day. Skipping from journal to journal or a random piece of paper that eventually gets torn up and thrown away. Writing has helped me cope with many issues I dealt with. When I realized that our focus for Day 6 was Morning pages I instantly remember how good it 
made me feel. 
My post for Day 6 was sunny and bright. I etched into the paint to make lines for the journal entry of the day. A mandala of some sort appeared as I tried to figure out what to draw in the empty space. Simple and eye catching. 

Day 7: Experimenting

The biggest challenge so far! The fear of black paint. Yes, I avoid using black paint in a lot of my paintings because it can be unforgiving and brutally stubborn. Instead of black paint I'll use deep purple or blue. Funny how that works. 
Today I took Connie's (Dirty Footprints Studio) advice. Grabbed the black paint, loaded my brush and closed my eyes. The brush was in full control and my eyes were kept from seeing the damage done. I even blocked the page with my hands as I reloaded my brush. Silly I know but the fear of seeing black covering a beautiful painting would make me panic.
When all was done I stood up and walked away letting it sink in. What do I do next? How do I "fix" this? Will it turn to mud? All these thoughts rushed my mind. I took a deep breath and told myself, it's okay. The bright colors made it's way through, mixing with black and balancing one another out. A beautiful girl with bold facial features surrounded by craziness. Her brave bold eyes, facing the overwhelming city but yet still knows how to remain calm.

When you learn to let go, face your fears and trust your brush.

The aftermath of letting a brush filled with black paint take over. 

A slight smile.
Comfortable in her own skin.
She is fearless. 

xo
Starlynn

Love Boat

Ohhh love boat...where did you come from?

Late nights with soft music, my art journal and phone far far away have been my little routine this week. It's a time to let go and calm down after a days events. I'm a day from finishing Art Journal Wisdom ( few days behind!) and found that pairing up blogging and art journaling has been a good cup of tea. I'm coming back for more each day! 

Last night I had an interesting painting session that hit some nerves and left me with a pallet full of paint. My big no no is wasting paint. In my mind I was going to use the remaining paint to prep a page for today. As I grabbed paint with my fingers I had this urge to paint water. The flow of gesso and paint together made smooth water like marks. Two things entered my mind. 1. Let it dry overnight and get some rest. 2. There lies layers and layers of paint and if you act quick you can build texture! Yes, I grabbed a mechanical pencil as an etching tool and dug in. A boat appeared, then waves and a moon...Love. I literally giggled at what had happened. The first layers of paint peeked through as I etched into the paint. Texture! OMG! I love texture! I stared at what was before me. A love boat. Created from nothing and turned into something.

I walked away with a heart full of love and happiness. My night was complete.

xo 

Starlynn

Believe In Thyself

The Courage to create...the courage to step outside your comfort box and do something outrageous but life changing. A few years ago I had envisioned myself having a blog. A place to share my art and perhaps motivate others to create. It always seemed like I found a reason to stall. I wasn't ready, my art wasn't good enough, lacked the motivation, etc. Finally I told myself, it's now or never. Why are you so afraid? Do you not have the courage to create? It took one thing and that was believing in myself. 

Last month, a month ago exactly, I ran my first half-marathon. I was afraid. Of What? That I wasn't prepared? Maybe I would pass out half way through? No one to give me a hug or high-five at the finish line? A sense of self pity? All these questions followed me up into the week of the race. Days leading up to the race I told myself, your good enough. You need to put on your big girl pants and BELIEVE in yourself. How else do you manage to conquer goals in life if you're always afraid? 

So I packed my bag and off I went to the hotel. Race day was full of adrenalin and race ready people. The fears were gone and that is when it truly sunk in. I'm here. I'm alone but I'm not. I'm prepared. I'm not a quitter. Learning to believe in yourself changes the whole game of life. So I think. I ran a solid run, beating the time I had predicted and it was the BEST feeling EVER! Tears of happiness and tears of defeat.

That 7 o'clock a.m. race on a crisp cool Sunday morning changed my life. Little did I know how big of an impact it would be. Believing in myself isn't just something I say. Week after week of pondering a blog name I started Starbella Creations. It was a huge emotional oh my gawd I'm doing this (!) step for me. After years of reading my favorite blogs I now sit here writing my own. Life is amazing. 

And so on Day 5 of Art Journal Wisdom I chose Believe as my word. A word that has set the tone and helped me get where I'm at today. We were limited to using purple of any shade, one word and found leaves. I started with oil pastels then layered with acrylic paint. This process I have never tried before and love how smoothly the paint glided over the pastels. Found leaves from the balcony and neighborhood trees and the flowers were given to me by a friend. Day 5 defiantly made me think twice about everything in life. Art journaling daily, making greeting cards and being a mother to a blog has really changed the path I'm on. I'm finally seeing a clear picture and purpose in life. Some days are hazy but I continue to fight through them. I've probably said this before and will say it again, I'm so grateful to have discovered Dirty Footprints Studio and other amazing bloggers/artist. Thank you World Wide Web?! Yes, thank you! 

xo

Starlynn 

Art Journaling With Oil Pastels

The finished piece to fulfill Day 3 of Art Journal Wisdom. This was a bit challenging because I haven't worked with oil pastels in a very long time. They can be messy and the ones I own are from an artist set given to me many moons ago. They work perfectly fine! The second challenge was getting her face proportion and her nose to look like a nose. Progress is being made and she turned out beautiful. I felt a wave of emotions while working with her. The start to finish, the layers, frustration, calmness and freedom.  She has wings to fly to a dream island or anyplace that makes her happy. She's not sad, she's content. I really enjoyed working on this page spread. Art journaling has given me the wings to open up emotionally and explore with different mediums

.

The start of what took to believing in myself that I have the tools to create something beautiful. A reminder that patience and practice will get us far in life.

Working with blending color.

Miss Fairy

She's free and at peace. 

Surrounded by water and a beautiful sunset.

xoStarlynn

Looking Up

Look up and you'll be surprised at what you see. The clouds slowly forming into one shape then another. The historic buildings towering over another and showing signs of life and history. Leaves changing color and hanging on for dear life. 

Just The Basics

A whole week of great things has gone on. I can honestly say it has been one of the best weeks I've had in a very long time. The richness of friendship, seeing the gift of life, the mountains I can climb and the beauty in just the basics. Time has been so precious! So with that being said let me take you on a rewind of the last week of my art world.

The start of Art Journal Wisdom with Dirty Footprints Studio (Connie H.) was a restart of what I lost in the last month. The freedom to paint what ever my heart desired! Don't you just love that feeling of not doing what "corporate America" taught us to be like? I mean, it's just oh so amazing to do what you truly love. For me, that's art. It's Day 10 of the workshop and have to say I feel much more alive and in tune with my creativity. The amount of amazing works of art that I have seen over the days has been so inspiring. I love the strong support that the class has shown. 

Day 1: Gather up the supplies! I think I heard the brushes and paint scream tears of joy. It's always a great excuse to go shopping for a new art journal too. Paper weight, texture and size are what attract me to sketch books and found one that suited me well. If you are in need of a sketchbook, you can find the one seen above at your local Barnes & Nobel. 

You'll be amazed at what you can do with the basics. Think about life, how have you survived off the basics? As an artist, what have you created with the basics? How has it enriched your life? Creating with what I have has allowed me to use my imagination, to try new things. Simple yet challenging.

Supplies: Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint, Craft Acrylic Paint (Martha Stewart, Craft Smart, Americana), Liquitex Gesso, Paint Brushes, PITT Pens, Sketchbook, Stencils (optional) water can and a cup of joe.

Bright and crazy!

Layers and texture

Day 2: Things got a bit wild! Ok, maybe not too wild but I did have a lot of fun. It's all about making mistakes, testing out new colors and not being afraid. The plan...well there was no plan. The blank page can be intimidating so I usually start throwing down paint before getting trapped in the Twilight Zone. I picked out some fun bright colors and plopped myself on the balcony and let the paint flow. An hour later I had a page filled with layers upon layers, stories building in every direction. It felt so good! 

(Craft Acrylic Paint)

(Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint)

Day 3: I ended up painting two full page spreads. The first being Spring/Easter filled colors to the second being Fall(ish)...yes, deep warm pumpkin spice. My focus was the word "fall" and what it meant. Fall as in the season and fall as in falling/failing. Something inside of me was itching to paint leaves. The second day of Fall was settling in. I also used two different types of acrylic paint. The first being basic craft paint that is very inexpensive and the other was Liquitex Basics. The latter flows much more better and has the ability to blend much more easier. It's all about trial and error, in art and life.

Leaves organically torn from old dictionary after writing over expressing failures. Layers of paint covering a journal entry. "What Matters Is That We Get Back Up" 
xoxo Starlynn