Experimenting with Aspens and Masking Fluid

I have a visual obsession with Aspen trees.  

I should have taken more pictures of this process, but you sort of get the idea.  It was sort of like print-making, or Ukrainian egg-dying.  I took masking fluid (rubber-cement-like stuff that blocks paint) and painted the shape of the white trees.  Then I painted light yellow over the whole page.  Once that was dry, I made a layer of dots with the masking fluid. Once that was dry, I painted a darker yellow over the whole page...and then I continued this process, until almost the whole page was covered in masking fluid and layers of paint.  It actually looked pretty cool, and had a bumpy, glossy texture from all of the dried masking fluid.  But next was the fun part--slowly peeling it all off to see what was underneath!  It was a fun little art adventure.  

I'm still in Utah, and the Aspen leaves are mostly turned brown and fallen off now, but there are still a few around and they're still beautiful.  On top of that, the last of the rollerski biathlon trials races was yesterday, and I hit all of my targets for the first time ever in a race!  It was a good feeling, and solidified my ticket to Europe in November.  It feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!  

Wearable Art!

I made these felt slippers a few years ago when I was in New Zealand.  They were so comfy that I wore holes in the bottoms quickly.  So I gave them a functional and aesthetic makeover!  Extra felt padding on the bottoms, soft leather soles, and some colorful stitching!  

RIP "Pooface"

Pooface was my beloved old macbook.  She was thus named because one night when I was at college the letters POOFACE mysteriously appeared on her.   As you can see, by the end of her life, only the OOF was left.  She died of inability to recharge, after a long struggle with injuries inflicted by a fall. 

The collage art on the back of Pooface was done while I was in stats class.  

I just got a new macbook, and will soon be catching up on the art that you've missed while I was still in my mourning period for Pooface.  The new mac is shiny and silver and very impersonal, and will also need to be named and decorated soon!

Utah time

Minus a few awfully oversized and hideous houses, this is my take on the view from our (awfully oversized and hideous) home-away-from-home.  But other than my aesthetic and environmental complaints about the house, I really can't complain at all.  It is a great location, and lots of space for all of us. 

The biathlon team's annual Utah training camp has just begun.  This is only my second year out here, but I already feel like its an October tradition.  Its a great place to train.  And once again I'm amazed by the the beautiful, subtle array of colors in the hills here.  And then of course there are the aspens, which aren't subtly-colored at all, and are just awesome.   

We're out here to get in some good altitude training, and also because there are two rollerski races out here next week that constitute the second half of the trials races for being chosen to head to Europe in November.  And heading to Europe in November is definitely a goal of mine for this year!  It would be the jump-start to my season that I was missing last year.  

Rejuvenation

When I started this blog, it was meant to make me do more art, because I like to create stuff and it makes me happy, but sometimes its easier not to.  So the blog was going to encourage me, while also being a more unique way of documenting my travels and adventures as a ski racer and biathlete.  It worked pretty well for a while--I was painting more and loving it.  But slowly I started to feel like I had to make each painting perfect.  I started thinking more about trying to sell art, and more about what people might want to buy.  I started to paint less because I was putting too much pressure on myself!  And most of my paintings were from photographs.  I don't think that painting from a photograph is necessarily a bad thing, but I want to be more versatile and creative than just that.  

So now, as I commence the traveling portion of my year, and as I work towards trying to make it onto the world cup and maybe even the Olympics, I've decided that I need to rejuvenate my blog.  I want to document my travels through art.  I've created some guidelines for myself to follow.  Now I will commence trying to follow them!