I love doing digital art and I can spend hours creating a new reality. However, if you picture artists as happily sitting in a studio creating art while ignoring the world around them, you are wrong. I have other responsibilities, including a garden. I have been gardening most of my life and I enjoy planting seeds and harvesting produce my family likes to eat. This year something happened that I have never seen before. My green beans failed to grow. I planted three separate crops and all three failed. I planted carrots and Swiss chard. The first planting also failed. The second planting is producing some chard and a couple (!) of carrots. I am happy to report the onions are growing along with the lemon cucumbers. My squash was invaded by some type of destructive insect. I don’t use pesticides but I rarely have problems. Except for this year.
What does this have to do with an artist’s blog? A lesson that can be applied to art or life in general. There are going to be bad times, unproductive times. Times when what you worked for is lost. A choice has to be made-give up or keep going. I choose to keep going with my garden and my art. What will you choose to do?

I am a digital artist because I love creating art with graphic software and being able to make as many changes as I want without having to start over after doing something that does not work. A modern medium for the 21st century! That does not mean I throw out everything traditional.
Keeping a journal is something I have done for almost 25 years. I have tried journaling with software, but there is something special in using an ink pen and writing on paper. The flow is just not there when I use software.
The other traditional habit I have is reading books that are printed, not digital. I have three bookcases filled with fiction and non-fiction books. How many digital books do I have? Zero. There is something about holding a book in my hands and turning the pages as I read that gives me satisfaction. Which is why I have traditional bookmarks that I have made to place in the book when I have to pause in my reading. However, I am always losing those bookmarks and using pieces of paper to mark my page. That is why I am thinking of offering some bookmarks on my devotional page that you may download for free and print. You can never have too many bookmarks, especially if you misplace them like I do.
 This is an example of some bookmarks I created using the background art and words from one of my devotional books. Interested? Let my know by leaving a comment here or contacting me using the form on my Home page.

It seems like I am having a lot of “oops” moments in my life lately. Deleting my blog page the other day was one of those “Why in the world did I click that button?” moments. Every have days like that (or weeks or months)?
I didn’t want to recreate my blog page again, so I just waited to hear from tech support. I never did get a response, so, today I decided I would have to build a blog page from scratch. I went in and set the page up, even creating a new title. I checked to see if the page was in the right position. To my surprise, there was another page titled Blog. Did tech support restore my page? None of my blog links were active after I deleted the page, so something happened. I am just grateful to have that page back. However, I learned that I can add a new page, it is not that difficult, and why did I feel so reluctant to tackle the job? Fear. Fear of failure and feeling overwhelmed. Are you facing an “Oops” in your life? Sometimes the only thing to do is just stop blaming yourself for the “oops” and do what you need to do to correct it.

I did a series of space art I called MetalVerse a few months ago. I was happy with the compositions. Since I do not usually sell my space art on Fine Art America, I put them in a completed art folder and did not look at them again-until a couple of days ago.
That was when I discovered some flaws. There was a line where I didn't want a line, so I made that change. Then, I realized my planet was not right and I need to fix that. Sometimes I just cannot see small flaws when I finish a piece of art. Waiting for a few weeks (or longer!!!), then coming back to look at a composition again is really helpful. I can usually pick up on those small flaws I missed the first time.
I think that is like life today. Sometimes we are in such a hurry to reach our goal, that we do not see some of the problems that could occur along the way. It pays to take a step back or slow down and reevaluate the situation. Maybe you will catch something small before it becomes a huge problem!

Below is a public domain photo of a door that I found online. I like the aged look, so I downloaded it. Maybe you love doors with character, and this door has its own story. However, I look at it as a starting point, a piece of a new visual story I want to tell. I use photos of landscapes or single objects like a door, and build a whole new world around combining them. What was never meant to go together now becomes an altered reality, a new world, a visual story.
Below is my inspiration door photo and how I altered it. It is very different from the real door. Of course, the door is only part of my art. I combined many more layers to build this visual story. I love creating these altered realities that consist of new landscapes or sometimes a single object in a new setting that would never occur on the earth you know. I hope this gives you a little insight into my thinking as a digital artist. My art comes from my imagination and is brought to reality with the use of graphic software like Affinity Photo, Elements, and Photoshop. I never use AI to create art for me. This new composition will be part of my Open Door themed art.
What story does my art tell you? What would you name this piece? I have not chosen a name yet.

Have you ever wanted to try something new, but hesitated? There are many reasons for not making changes, but the root cause is often fear. That has been the cause of my hesitation in facing a new challenge. No, I am not talking about my art today but about…………canning! More specifically, pressure canning. Yes, I am an artist, but I do have to deal with mundane things like food preparation! I make excuses for not canning: the pressure cooker might blow up (my mom refused to pressure can), fear if regulating temperature on a stove top canner, and the list goes on.
Then, I heard of electric, digital canners and I made the plunge. I bought one, read the instructions, watched every YouTube video I could find using a Nesco canner, printed out step-by-step instructions (because I was terrified, I would miss a step!!!!) and selected raw pack chicken as my first item to can. I brooded over that canner like a mother hen over her eggs. Guess what? The canner worked perfectly. Nothing blew up. Each step went just like the manual said and I ended up with four sealed quarts of canned chicken. Fears faced and conquered. I am doing a second batch of chicken today, and the canner is hissing in the background as I type. Am I still anxious? A little, but now I know what to expect. Are you facing any challenges in your life? Maybe now is the time to take the plunge and overcome fear. Go ahead. Do it!