I finished my little angel yesterday. I like her but I can't look at her without seeing the blatant influences of other artists I love. That's my biggest quandary......how to be influenced without looking like the person who influences you. As artists, we are all influenced by something or someone.....whether it be a Van Gogh or the art on a coffee can.....it's there, you can't escape it. But I feel my art sometimes almost looks like a copy or a reproduction of other artists work.



I've been painting angels for as long as I can remember but after finding an artist called Gritty Jane, I felt my angels started to come alive. I loved her work and tried out some of her techniques and enjoyed them immensely. But after a few months, I found myself very humbly having to apologize to her for looking WAY to similar. How humiliating.

How to be influenced without being a copycat.........How??

On the other hand, I'm sure you won't have to look very far to find another artist who resembles your own work....most likely an artist who has never even heard of you....which makes me wonder, are there any new ideas out there? Is most art just 'recycled'?



Oh my.....I've been snowed in for too long. How about I just end this now with an awesome article a friend shared with me today. It's WELL worth a looksy.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/24084-can-offensive-art-be-christian#

AND.... the gallery is coming along nicely. You can't tell from this picture but here's a sneak peak, anyway.







Happy Wednesday!

Krissy

I realize that I haven't been posting my new works so I thought I'd show one that's about half-way finished.

Now that I see a photo of her, I see how harsh the black lines are in her face. She also has a very 'bored' look on her face. Not what I was going for! I have a lot of softening to do on her. I am very happy with her wings, though. That was some serious decoupage. Took all night. I'm also giving her a sand texture finish for some depth. Hopefully she'll be finished tomorrow and ready for the gallery on Saturday. We'll see!

Good night!

I'm in a Book!!!

I think that in the chaos of life, I forgot to mention that I'm in a book! A lovely lady named Chrissie Grace (find her in my blog roll....you won't regret it!) contacted me about contributing to her wonderful new book, SHARING STITCHES. She wasn't put off a bit that I don't know a thing about sewing! I did my best hand stitches and she helped with the rest. And the best part is that she incorporates so much of her faith into her artwork. I love that. Does art really always have to be about promoting ourselves? It's so much more wonderful and worthwhile when it points to the one who gave us artistic talent in the first place!

Hopefully, I'll have the book in the gallery for sale soon. I think it is still only available as a pre-order. Google SHARING STITCHES or hop over to amazon to get a sneak peak.

Here is a link the lovely interview she put on her blog with me in June. Forgot to mention that, too!

http://chrissiegrace.blogspot.com/search?q=kristen+feighery

And a pix of the cover....

And the amazon link to order your copy!

http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Stitches-Inspiration-One-Kind/dp/1600619436#_

Have a great Tuesday night!!