Woah-livia

This chick is a total babe. Also she is my baby sister. I enjoy taking photos and have been practicing with some of my family, most recently Olivia's senior photos and my sisters newborn photos. Baby wasn't really newborn by the time I got my hands on him so he was a little wiggly. Wiggles and indignant cries at being put in strange positions makes taking baby pictures hard....but oh so cute. Let's just say Olivia was easier to photograph. Not only is she photogenic, beautiful, and a snappy dresser but she is also a dancer. aka-she can do crap that other people just can't in a photo. Enjoy her crazy moves.

Cheater Pants

Sometimes I feel like a cheater when I art. The project in my drawing class this week focused on stencil drawings with chalk. Something about using a stencil to create my project felt like a trick, like I wasn't trying as hard. Art teaches me new things every day. Mainly I have been grasping the fact that art isn't any one thing. It is everywhere in everything and there are countless ways to create. I have the same problem of feeling like I am cheating somehow when I do projects with computer programs like in my Photoshop class this semester. After our first digital painting my teacher proclaimed his distaste for all who call digital art "fake". The painter has to have skill, creativity, and knowledge to make a painting whether on the computer with a mouse or on a canvas with a brush. Another of my great teachers says that all art is a self portrait because no two people create the same and no two projects are alike. So for your enjoyment today is my stencil and chalk portrait of Aaron, also digitally remastered for his less colorful and more "manly" tastes, as well as my recent digital painting. Thanks to Aaron, Michelle, and Phillip for being my models.

I Resist. Wax Resist.

I don't like trying new things. It makes me uncomfortable. I love art. Art classes make me uncomfortable. The older I get the more I understand that what makes you uncomfortable changes you and change is usually good. Now I'm not saying that I'm going to start wearing a corset everyday because the discomfort will be good for me but doing things a little different IS good for me.

Wax resist is new for me and I don't love how it came out but it was a lot of fun to try. Oil pastel drawing covered with India ink and then scratched out. Great texture, not a lot of space for detail. Also below is watercolor and India ink, also new for me.

Try new things! It's scary and fun.

I'm a cheapskate, okay?

 

I've decided that I love to paint and that it cost's too much. With this discovery I went to my favorite place (okay, favorite might be a strong word), Deseret Industries, and picked out some nice big fat ugly pictures in pretty rustic frames for five whole dollars and just went nuts and painting over those ugly old pictures. Aaron was out of town on a business training trip all week and it was spring break so I had a lot of time on my hands. Of course I couldn't very well paint my assignment on the very holy spring break, so I did a couple of procrastination paintings instead. The first one just started out as a willy nilly color smash and kind of evolved into looking landscape-esque. I guess I'm not quite comfortable with full on abstract art just yet. The second one I decided to paint my wedding temple, Logan. I have this great picture in my house of it with a pretty flowering bush and some tree's and figured that was as good a subject as any out there. Anyhow, enjoy, I know I did.

Monet - The Master

 

I am taking an introductory oil painting class this semester and it has quickly become an obsession. I have always loved the idea of painting and I have always been terrified of it. Each new day when I pick up a brush I shake in my boots for a few minutes before I get up the courage to just do it. I love it! The most recent project was for us to find a master impressionist and try to copy their work. It is easy to look at a beautiful painting and say to yourself that it would be so easy to create it but the Masters are called that for a reason. I chose Monet partially because he uses color so wonderfully and also because he is one of the few of his time that didn't just love women in their birthday suits. I had a lot of fun doing this piece but it was also way more frustrating than my first painting because I was trying so hard to duplicate this amazing thing. I don't think I could ever be done trying to make it perfect if it weren't for due dates and all that nonsense. I have a much greater appreciation for the amazing impressionist painters out there, new and old. Now enjoy a few quotes from our good friend, Claude Monet.

"People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love." 

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."

Family Portrait Project: Sister Keni Hill

This one is for dear sweet Sister Keni Hill who is serving a Latter Day Saint mission in Cusco, Peru! One of my favorite things about drawing people versus giraffes or bowls of fruit is that I stare at someone for long periods of time (in a non creepy way) so I get to really enjoy what is special about them. I don't know how well I captured her likeness but I did see a lot of family resemblance with her and my younger sister Olivia. All of my sisters have really similar noses except for Olivia and I just could never pin who she got that from. The answer is someone on my Dad's side of the family because Miss Keni here has the same nose!

Family Portrait Project: Fab Gab

 I don't know what it is about these Rowley girls but they are just too photogenic. Why is everyone getting old so quickly? For some reason Gabby is forever 6 in my mind but she seems to be getting older anyhow. What gives her the right I ask!? Now just look at her, gorgeous and rockin' the braid crown. I figured a high contrast monochromatic piece would be nice since I burnt up a bunch of my color on sunbursts recently.

 

Family Portrait Project: Becca and the Bump

 



 

Britney and Becca are both due in February! I looove babies and pregnancy seems to be in the air. This is my way of drawing a baby by proxy, cute pregnant ladies!  Not only that but it was fun to try my hand at drawing sunbursts....I need some practice...but it was a lot of fun. I love color almost as much as I love babies so sunbursts are just a blast. When I think about it color doesn't wear diapers and cry so maybe I should rethink my love priorities.

 

Merry Everything!

Tis the season to get way too excited about buying gifts and then sit in a pile of receipts, cup of eggnog in hand, and wonder where all of your money went. I LOVE to give gifts and I'm a sucker for Aaron, so once a year I go all out. Being the starving college student that I am sometimes I have to be very sneaky in order to get Aaron's gifts because when one of your two dollars goes missing your husband is bound to notice. The question every year is "what do I get him now"? Last year I splurged and got him a fly fishing float tube, the year before I splurged and got him hiking boots and a pack, the year before I splurged and got him a "zombie survival kit". Noticing a pattern? I splurge. This year we are trying to be debt free. We are SO close that splurging feels a little too naughty. So what do you get a man with expensive taste? Oh man, I could use some help with this one. Merriest of everything to you and yours.

Food Love, meet List Love

I'm in a serious relationship with food. Sometimes I feel like I would die without our love but sometimes food doesn't treat me so well. It's a love hate relationship. But seriously people, have you ever gone to the store hangry? I usually end up at the grocery store in this mode and end up with $1,000 worth of chocolate chip cookies and macaroni and cheese which I try to juggle instead of just getting a cart like a normal human being. I've started using these great grocery lists to plan out my shopping and meals and it saves me money as well as ensures I have healthy food in the fridge instead of just many blocks of fancy cheeses (I currently have 3 year aged Irish Sharp Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, and Habanero Mozzarella, mnmnmn). Try it out! My Momma gets these 5.5"x8.5" in a pad and slaps a magnet on the back so it's easy access on the fridge. Happy Listing. Happy Eating. 

 

 

 

 

Dress up for cheapskates

I love beautiful things and clothing is no exception. Over the last few years my nicer clothing from the Mom and Pop Era (oh the days of high school when your parents bought your clothes) have stopped fitting or gotten pretty shabby. I've supplemented my wardrobe with some carefully picked thrift store finds and gifts but I've noticed that I'm starting to look less chic and more eek. So I went hunting. There is a never ending supply of gorgeous expensive clothing, just look up Anthropologie...wait, don't, it will ruin your life....you already did? Bummer. Well I've noticed that when you search certain items on pinterest or similar websites that the same item will come up under multiple addresses, similar to when you are shopping for a flight or hotel room. There is not one set price for anything out there. You can always find a deal if you are really looking. Here are some of the deals that I found in the last little while looking for Christmas gifts for the many many women in my family. 

 

This dress is $32 at Luulla.com an awesome shopping site for the penny pincher.

 This is the original dress that I found on Chinabeauty.com for $76 Sometimes you can't find the exact item but the same fabrics are often used on more than one article of clothing like with these dresses.

 This little beauty is $38 on etsy.com, one of my favorite handmade shopping sites.

 The original heart-throb was this skirt from shabbyapple. On a recent trip to Salt Lake my tiny and beautiful sister tried it on and I fell in love. The high waist and stiff fabric make it a little less fun to wear for fluffier gals like me so the elastic waistband in the cheaper skirt was actually a welcome change. This skirt is also made of a thick shiny fabric that makes it very formal looking which I don't prefer for everyday wear.

 I got trapped by this dress. I thought I had found the best deal but alas I found a better deal after I had already purchased. This is one of the times you can find the exact same dress or item on different sites and for different prices. Etsy $45, dresslily.com $24.

 Another exact match! Udobuy.com $42, CiChic $25

 Oh this dress! I was 100% ready to buy it at KoshFashion for $72 + shipping and the day I went to purchase the website mysteriously disappeared. I was frantic and went searching high and low for the dress only to find a near match.

 I love this dress to the MAX. Only $21 from luulla.com Thank the heavens that the KoshFashion website mysteriously disappeared. I saved enough money to get a second dress!

 

I found this dress for $23 on sheinside.com but THEN! I found it for $19 on ebay! woo hoo

This fun and simple dress is $39 on mode-sty.com and a whopping $18 on cichic.com

Bird Dog Jo

You grow up with this kid, look up to her, want to be her, and then BAM she gets pregnant. How weird it is that the 9 year old I trailed back in the day is growing a human. I love this girl. I will love her little boy. He will be the most spoiled and loved baby of all time. They came for Thanksgiving and the family spent the day hanging out in our pajamas making pie. I did Thanksgiving with the in-laws but this pre-holiday hang out was just what I needed to cure the homesickness.  She is only six months along but we wanted some pictures of the bump before time got away from us. Here are a few. My favorite is the blurry swing picture. It's a ridiculous picture but I just love it.

Books, Oh the Books!

How many of you out there wish you had the EXACT library from Beauty and the Beast? How many of you are dying because it's the end of the semester and all you want out of life is to read something that isn't a school text? Christmas break and the end of the semester are soon upon us so I figured I would share a few of my recent reads to give some inspiration to you would be readers out there. Fair Warning: most of the books I like to read are YA so don't expect any Chaucer on this list.

 Delirium is the first in this series by Lauren Oliver. It has a 4.5 star rating and is a fun dystopian read.

 Panic is a 4 star read. I read this and enjoyed it enough that I read another of her books, Delirium. I'm hoping to get in the next book in the delirium series after the semester ends.

 Four is the fourth (ba ha) book in the Divergent series. Technically it is not part of the trilogy of Divergent, Allegiant, and Insurgent but an offshoot of one of the main characters perspective. It has a 4.5 star rating but I think I would give it a 4 just for the sake of pattern.

 Kristin Cashore is an awesome new author and this is the third book in her first series. Graceling and Fire are the first two books and although they tie together better if you read them in order you don't have to. However I think I would read Fire if I only had the option of reading one of the three. This book has a 4.5 star rating.

 Mr. Brown's fourth book in the adventure series is just perfect. I love the mystery, history, and adventure in his novels which don't need to be read in order to be understood. It is given a 4.5 star rating but I give it a 5.

 I am a lover of Robin McKinley. She has written some of my favorite fairy tale revisions including rose daughter, beauty, and spindles end. Reader beware this book does contain adult themes as the main character goes through some abuse. It is a beautiful story but probably not for younger readers. 4.5 star rating.

 If you haven't heard of the Hunger Games, bless your heart and the rock you have been living under. The series is a good read and has a 4.5 star rating. Dystopian for those that lean that way.

 Peeps is the first in it's series and the second book recently came out! Westerfeld deals with some interesting life questions in his books without getting bogged down in politics. This is a fun read for those who like weird science. At the beginning of each chapter he talks about strange viruses. If you enjoy this read you should definitely pick up his uglies series which is of the currently popular dystopian style (uglies, pretties, specials). 4.5 star rating.

Elantris is the first book from author Brandon Sanderson who has become one of the most read fantasy writers today. This book brings back the beauty and elegance of a single book telling a story...not a series, not a trilogy, not a mumbojumbo of a trillion stories. It can become very political at times but it doesn't drag. It has a 4.5 star rating but I give it a 5.

Hope you enjoy!