Mural planning

For the mural layout I was thinking about last week I'm going to prime the walls and then block them out into framed sections.
Here's the hallway I have in mind. (Please excuse the clothing etc. We're in the process of setting up our "Artful Boutique" store in the gallery.

Once I've cleared the hallway and primed the wall I'll paint on the frames on and then when the whole group gets together we can each play in side the frames.

Kind of like the frames on these Mucha pieces:

Here's my doodle on the thought:

 

This is going to take some time to put together, so I'll start chipping away at it.

Step one. Go buy Kilz paint.

Last winter we had a little water damage becaus eof melting ice dams on the roof, so Kilz will be needed to really prep the wall.

The first "Art and Chill night" (does that work as a name?) will be on December 30th and that will probably be more of a "bring what you're working on and let's be artsy in a group" thing.

Either way. Progress!

A Shift in Focus

Hello Blogger land.

I haven't had anything to share over here in a looooong time, which mostly has to do with my focus on my Horror Blog. That, and I've been writing my novel (finally!!) and I just haven't been doing anything in the art and design world for a good erm... two years pretty much.

Artist Burnout

Well before my last feature film project I was feeling totally burned out. Exhausted, unhappy, and unhealthy. I loved (and still love) every single person I was working with, but the work itself wasn't satisfying me anymore.

And that was incredibly hard for me to admit. It still is.

I was feeling burned out and I had also been looking at where my life was headed and wasn't entirely happy with the path I was taking. Working 8-10 months out of the year away from friends, family, and any hope of a healthy routine was not something I wanted in the long run.

But it left me with a big ol' question mark, if I'm not doing FILM or THEATER what on earth am I going to do with myself.

So I took a step back. 

Since I've taken a step back from features, I've produced my own web-series, learned how to edit, taken musical theater classes (and freakin' loved them!!), started blogging (like a boss), been doing commissioned artwork, and WRITING.

Writing has been a big deal for me because it was always that one skill I felt I was OK at, but loved doing even though it wasn't as polished as my other skills. This past year in particular I've been giving my literary side a lot more loving.

I've discovered some new things about myself

1. I like working independently on collaborative projects.
2. I need a LOT of variety in my weekly routine to feel satisfied
3. I need a fair amount of face to face time with friends and family
4. I like acting
5. I love singing
6. I love writing, but I'm still terrified of it. lol don't think too much on that one...
7. and drawing is like breathing to me. I can't stop myself from doing that even if I wanted to.

Blogging

I've been learning a ton about blogging, social media and  small businesses. All of these topics I think I'll start sharing here, because I think blogging, in particular, is a very powerful tool for artists of any type to get your name out there.

In light of everything happening in the world right now I've also come to the conclusion that

Art is important

Art, is the one thing I have to offer the world that I think truly adds to it in a positive way.

I want to teach. I want to help. I want to create something that will positively impact the little chunk of tumultuous world I live in and try to help us all heal just a little from the pain we are absorbing as War inches closer and closer to us.

Because art may be one of the few things that can help us cope with what's going on. And I for one need it.

So now that I have a better grasp on what the blog is going to be talking about, beyond film-making, I'll posting one post every Friday from now on. It may be a lot of brainstorming to start, but once things get rolling you'll start to see more about the following things:

• The art community in CT/ New England
• Musician and Artist spotlights
• designing classes and courses for the arts
• personal art projects in progress, sculptures and the like
• how to promote your work through social media
• tools for advertising events
• how to get work as an illustrator
• how to step up a portfolio blog
• how to use social media like a pro - and not annoy the heck out of everyone

among many other thoughts.

Going Forward

As I spend some more time on my thoughts here, I'll start sprucing up the site, reorganizing and bringing this site up to par with what I've been doing over on HorrorMade.com. I may even switch this over to wordpress so I can have some more control over the design etc. But that's an issue for a later time.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey, and I hope I can bring you some valuable insights into how to approach the world of art, and perhaps together, we'll figure out how to make a proper living off of it.

~XOXO

Jeanette

3:30am

Whoa! Wait a minute! I could have sworn it was 9 o'clock like- 3 minutes ago! I don't understand how it happens, but when I get really into something I'm working on I get sucked into these weird time-warp moments and come out bleary eyed and dazed. Good thing I don't have to be up early tomorrow. JK, I have to be at an SFX fitting in the morning as the behind the scenes videographer. Lol, I think I'll keep it on sticks for the most part. No reason to go all clover field on it just because I couldn't figure out how to look up from my budgeting.

Hmm... Nope.

Last post I mentioned how excited I was about the casting call we where having. The search continues, since neither of our two little actors showed up. You'll never get cast if you don't show up. Just saying.

While in waiting

A pretty slow moving and sludge-like day. I have no problem saying that script breakdowns are not one of my favorite things to do. They are necessary, and I love them with a fiery love once they are done, but I still hate doing them... Ah well small price to pay to do work I love.

So my day has been spent using final draft tagger, and taking breaks to do research for specific props. It would perhaps come as a shock to some of my pintrests followers to realize most of my boards are straight-up research for upcoming projects. Lol

Right now I'm hanging out in the gallery waiting for tonight's actors to arrive for their auditions for a project my husband and I are producing. Their reels seems very promising, and they're hella cute. I hope we find the right little actors tonight ^_^