Hello Beach Lovers!

Friendly reminder, all of my weekend art shows have been canceled for the year. I’ve decided not to apply for any big weekend fall art festivals, since I expect Covid will become an issue again in the fall. I will let you know if I decide to attend any small art walks this year.

My husband and I have been in self isolation as much as possible during this time. We’re being especially careful since I do go visit my grandchildren about once a week.

And, right now through the summer, we just have nothing going on in Florida.

So, how to keep busy…hmmm.

I haven’t been as motivated to paint as I thought I would’ve been during quarantine and the mandatory stay at home orders. Working from home and not being able to go out for that brief outside time was mentally draining. I think it surprised my husband how much it bothered me.

Playing with Chalk

Lately, I’ve been trying a few new things. I had a chalk art festival that I signed up for in the spring but it was cancelled. I took this as an opportunity to get a little more chalk art practice in.

Sitting on the concrete and drawing for hours was a lot harder on me than expected. I’m actually representing my company in the chalk art contest. I will probably follow through with it but, this will be the first and final time lol.

Digital Arting

I’m also working on my digital art now. Gimp is my software of choice. If you’re not familiar, it’s Linux’s version of Photoshop or Illustrator. I started using it because in my youth I didn’t have the money to pay for Photoshop or any other editing software.

And now, after using it for years I’m very comfortable with it. Some of the latest updates, however, made it very difficult to use. This sent me looking for other options.

I’ve used Gimp to do some cropping, painting and touch ups on my artwork. Now I’m creating pieces of art that I can put on t-shirts, mugs and gift items.

And so began the hunt for an new application that is free and easier to use.

YouTube brought me to a software called Sketchbook, by AutoDesk. Once installed, I dove into learning how to use it. I find that since I’m comfortable with Gimp, I can pass my artwork back and forth between the two applications and not miss a beat. There are just a few things in Gimp that I still find easier to use.

I’ve accidentally over trimmed my designs in Sketchbook before. Whoops! Of course, it just takes time and practice.

Merchandise

You may have seen some of the sticker and t-shirt artwork that’s been going through my Instagram and Facebook feed, if you’re following me.

If you aren’t you definitely should!

I was basically taking some of my old paintings and adding some lettering and trying a few things to see what would work for t-shirt and sticker designs. I opened a RedBubble shop and a TeeSpring shop as well.

TeeSpring and RedBubble are print on demand websites.

TeeSpring was in preparation for my Twitch channel merchandise and it also will pull into YouTube once I’m allowed to monetize. I’d like to have this set up and available when the time comes. Now is when I can learn and work out the kinks.

So, I’m definitely in no hurry since it’s summer time; but, it’s fun and a great way to learn and get creative. What’s a better motivator than getting a shop set up for people who are watching and connecting with your content?

Stay safe and healthy out there.

Always keep your loved ones in your prayers. And, I’ll keep you in mine.

See you at the beach!

~ Jenn