Instagram, ahoy!
Look who's trying to join the 21st century? :P
https://www.instagram.com/ardenellennixon/
Since my DA traffic has slowed to a trickle thanks to the last format change, I'm on the look-out for a new platform to share my work. I'll still post here on occasion, but Instagram will have posts a few times a week, at least.
You can also support my art and watch paintings take shape in real time on my Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/ardenellennixon
Shirts & other swag are available at my TeePublic.
https://www.teepublic.com/user/ardenellennixon
Regardless of where and how you follow my art, THANK YOU so much for your continued support. It means more than words!
All images and artwork are property of the artist and are not to be used in any media (including wallpapers) without express written permission. My art is NOT stock and is NOT public domain. Purchasing either a print or an original does not give the purchaser any rights to the image, all of which remain with the artist.
A New Year's Surprise!
Happy New Year! Guess who is fully freelance again?!
Over four years ago, I made the decision to get the proverbial part-time "day job." We had paid off all the bills from my husband's stroke the year before (thanks in part to him working for the state at the time and thus being well-insured, but it was still a lot), and I did my part by hustling my art like never before. After so much stress--organizing various appointments, papers, and payments, and everything else while Nicholas recovered fully--I needed painting to just be painting again, to be my complete refuge, with no strings or dollar signs attached. I kept myself in the game with conventions and selling originals as their destined owners found them at shows or online, but I also grew complacent thanks to the relief of a predictable paycheck. I painted what I wanted to, when I wanted to, and that was enough... for a time.
After nearly four years, what had been the perfect part-time gig was no longer, so I gave notice this past summer. July through October was a blur of job applications, investing in friends and family, and art, art, art. My studio devoured me, and commissions materialized, one after the other. I gratefully reclaimed my cemetery walks, which I gave up when I needed to steal time from somewhere in order to keep up with both my past job and my painting. I grew healthier, happier. I remembered me. When I was offered another position this past October, the responsible choice seemed to be accepting it. I was relieved to have predictability again but dismayed to lose the momentum I had built up over months of getting to be nothing but myself, my true self, doing what I was meant to do.
Nicholas has always been in my corner, consoling, cheering, encouraging me to be fully freelance again, but I've been wary to the point of frustrating us both. My art, too, is tired of waiting for me to be brave. Many times in 2019, it muscled through, dragging me behind, too strong in its momentum for even laryngitis and exhaustion to keep me from missing events that well and truly mattered.
Once again, Nicholas is holding me up while my art shoves me forward, demanding its due. For my part, I realized I was actually losing money going to my day job instead of staying in the studio. I turned in my two weeks notice on the 18th, but with a distinctly different and bolder intention.
I, Arden Ellen Nixon, will be your charmingly awkward artist forever and always.
I'm scared, ecstatic, nervous, relieved--you name it. Indeed, I have you to thank for the strength and the bravery to dare this. Like my beloved Nicholas, no matter how rundown I became, you remained, encouraging, sharing, supporting. I couldn't do this without you. I'm grateful to you, and I cannot tell you how full I feel in this moment.
All I ask is that you continue being you and doing what you do. Share those links; throw $1 at my Patreon and/or share it, too; snag shirts on sale at my TeePublic; visit me at cons; keep up the good word of mouth; tell me about awesome events I should know about; hug and hug hard when we meet; and above all, keep believing in me.
You helped me believe in me. Thank you.
Watercolor Acrylic Tutorial!
Thank you, THANK YOU, for supporting my art, whether it's via Patreon, favorites here on DA, word-of-mouth, or purchases. I appreciate it and all of you more than words can say.
Thank you, THANK YOU, for supporting my art, whether it's via Patreon, favorites here on DA, word-of-mouth, or purchases. I appreciate it and all of you more than words can say.
Make Do and Mend: A Resolution in Review
"Make Do" proved a timely mantra. It was enacted before we discovered the snafu in our insurance policy that meant WAY more than expected would be out of pocket this year, but it certainly helped make up the difference! (I also cut $40/month off our phone bill by gutting our data. Our use had gone down considerably on its own, to where we always had ample rollover. Wish I'd found that sooner, but hey, at least I found it in February during the great "Must find money" bill revue! We also killed Netflix, as we honestly hadn't watched it in months. Public Service Announcement: Audit your bills now and again, kids!).
Household-wise, we've conquered all the travel toothpastes and floss, nearly all the soap, and there is hope yet for the pantry. We turned old clothes into rags to augment our kitchen wash clothes and save on paper towels (barring something gross and/or cat-related that should only touched once), and I've made a point of mending small holes and loose seams as I find them vs. letting the pile build up. We made rags, wash clothes, and mended before, but now it’s far more streamlined.
Studio-wise, you've all witnessed a great many paintings that were owed to my coming across this or that random supply or or surface. A sheet of papyrus that I've had for not quite two decades (I discovered Amazon, then discovered that you could order papyrus, and I begged to) is down to a 1/4 of its original generous size; two orphaned gesso boards have become a fox and an octopus, respectively; a forgotten wooden plaque became home to a fox; and partially-finished canvases from who knows when either saw completion or rebirth as something new. I purchased my first new canvases of the year in November, and only a handful of brushes and convention print supplies in between. Indeed, many of my "Make Do" paintings made use of the warm colors I seldom turn to, so now I finally have pieces to go with the equally warm mat colors that have been accumulating all this time!
Some of this year's "Make Do & Mend" super stars:
"A Fox Named Fable," acrylic on wood
"The Autumn King," acrylic on gesso board
"WaterCOLOR Nouveau," acrylic on gesso board
"When the Moon Comes Down," acrylic on (repurposed) canvas
"The Seer," acrylic on 5 x 7" canvas board, because I had A LOT of them! This is but one of many, including "Reliquary," which itself was painted to go with a gorgeous mirrored second-hand frame.
You get the idea!
My new studio resolution will be a very specific rendition of "Make Do & Mend." I've been treating my acrylics like watercolor for things like the "Pride" series, when I have a handsome collection of good ($$$) watercolors that I've not used an an embarrassingly long time. Watercolor by its nature doesn't go bad, so they're not only usable, but a little goes a long way. There are years of potential paintings in those tubes!
I love watercolor, but I'm also an impatient painter, which doesn't bode well for the long drying time. One also has to be more mindful, as there's no undoing a mistake. Indeed, watercolor requires one to be a better artist, on the whole! Thus, my studio resolution for 2019 will be to complete at least one watercolor painting a month, of any size. If my muse is moved to do more, great, but I feel one a month a reasonable goal, especially with my acrylics being my go-to. I'll have to get new watercolor paper, as I've gone through my stash for various other projects (see above!), but this is a challenge I very much look forward to.
See more posts like this one and watch paintings take shape over at my Patreon! www.patreon.com/ardenellennixo…
Thank you, THANK YOU, for supporting my art, whether it's via Patreon, favorites here on DA, word-of-mouth, or purchases. I appreciate it and all of you more than words can say.