The Art Update Week 2

Welcome back to week 2 of the Art Update. Honestly, it's amazing you're here, and I'm so grateful for it.

This week was a heavy admin week at the studio, so mostly on the computer getting things in check, ordering supplies, checking inventory, and pretending to be an accountant. I did have the opportunity to have a wonderful conversation with Adrianna from Soul Craft Media about the tool, headache, and creative outlet that is social media and marketing for small businesses.

I'm always thinking about what I want my brand to look like and how much of myself needs to be shared to operate a creative business online. I want to share this journey and build community while allowing space for privacy, healthy amounts of screen time, and using photo and video to share the art process and journey more than selling and showing up in a capitalist sell sell sell way.

The conversations and questions Adrianna and I had made me grateful for the friends and family who pushed me to do this blog.

Although this week's time wasn't spent on current paintings, the weekend was spent trying something new that I've been considering for a while: making paint out of crushed-up rocks.

Some of you may know that my partner is an avid rock collector and has recently been bringing rocks from his "hunts" that are highly pigmented and crumble easily.

We used this weekend to turn that rock dust into paint.

Photos to follow! Let me know in the comments if you want detailed directions on how we did this!

Making Rock Paint

We sorted our rocks out by color and ended up with four different paints.

I mean, LOOK at that color! I could drool.

We used some river rocks and a few leftover patio stones to crush the rocks up into a powder, then put it through a fine strainer to get big chunks out. We didn't do a perfect job; the paint was still very gritty.

Once the rock dust was safely strained into their little cups, we added paint medium and a little bit of water. We watered to taste, I would say.

Finally, we grabbed a canvas and brushes and tried this mud out.

I honestly couldn't believe how gorgeous the colors were. Like I said before, I was drooling over them.

I will eventually go back into this canvas and add more detail and depth, but for now, we are loving it. Both Steven and Duck had a hand in painting it, and we will find someplace fun for it to live in our home.

I do plan to add natural paints like this to my practice and will have more rock paint paintings to offer in the future.

Finished Works

Steven and I have been learning how to photograph my canvases to get them ready to be made into prints. Here are some photos of the makeshift "Photo Studio" we made in the shop bathroom (we needed a place with no windows).

I know it looks crazy, but the photos are amazing.

Media

I wasn't listening to a ton of media this week; I need dead silence when I do anything with numbers. But I did listen to some new episodes from some of my favorite podcasts while hiking with Duck (today is his birthday, by the way). And I do have artists that I am loving this week if you want to check them out.

Maintenance Phase Podcast: Link

Fashion Creator - The Trendy Scott: Link

Artist - Ibi Meier-Ouritemeka: Link

Photographer and Cinematic Media - Adrianna Reid: Link 

In The Studio

It's Duck's birthday; he is 8 years old today. To me, this is very important news.

Happy Birthday Duck

Anyway! Thanks for being here and taking the time to read about what's happening at the studio.

See you next week, same time, same place!

xo Miranda