New Photoshop CS4 and Starting All Over Again...

Digital art piece, "Communing with the Dead".

Copyright Jamie Miller July 25, 2009
click image to see full piece on Flicker

I bought myself Adobe Creative Suite 4 and now I am learning PhotoShop ALL over again!! I must be a glutton for punishment:) I have been doing what did before and just using trial and error and watching some Adobe tutorials with a really cute Canadian dude. This is my first practice piece. While it was not exactly what I was going for, it did let me stretch my comfort zone a little.

I think it is important to share the mistakes and the triumphs in our art journeys. Sometimes my worst mistakes have opened the door to my greatest discoveries. I used to have a regular post called, "Bad Art" and I focused on the pieces I was the least happiest with at the time. It was freeing to call it what it was and move on to something else. I have a really bad habit of becoming "stuck" and not doing what's in my head because I don't think I can give it justice in real life. It is the doubter in me. The negative Jamie saying this is frivolous and of no merit. I am working on quelling that Jamie. I am learning that nothing is impossible and everything I envision can be given a voice. Even if it's not a perfect one. That's ok. As long as I keep trying and experimenting and moving forward in this journey. This fabulously scary and completely exhilarating journey.


Quotes for Today:

"In the end, the only people who fail are those who don't try."
~David Viscott

"If you haven’t failed, you’re not trying hard enough."
~Unknown

" Do or do not. There is no try."
~Yoda

It's Time for More Bad Art......

This was my first (and last) attempt at sculpting polymer clay. When I was growing up my parents and I always went to the State Fair in Columbia, South Carolina. We would do the rides and games, but my favorite thing (elephant ears with powdered sugar) was to see the animals and to look at the crafts and art submissions. I would walk up and down the isles looking at the paintings and drawings. That was where I saw my first ever "fairy in a jar" art. It was a large jar and the fairy was sculpted out of clay. She was so delicate and her wings shimmered and she wore a tiny burlap dress. She was standing with her hands pressed against the glass looking out at me. All over the inside of the jar were the tiniest muddy hand prints where she had fluttered around trying to get out of the jar. The jar sat upon a stack of antique books about fairies and there was a large magnifying glass lying along side. It was the most enchanting thing I had ever seen. I looked at it for so long and then would have to move so others could come by, but I would go back and stare.

That had to have been 18 years ago and I have always remembered it. I was so thrilled to see the new fairy jars start to emerge in the mixed media art world. Soooo, I thought I'll sculpt a fairy and stick her in a jar too. Well, this is my attempt and it looks like the missing link:) Not fairy like at ALL! LOL!!! I might try again someday, but for now I am going to leave this to the experts:)