Testing Out a New Hobby

special blog feature for CGH so she doesn’t feel like she is neglecting her scripture reading to read my blog, there will occasionally be scriptures at the top.  Two birds, one stone!  One stop shopping!  Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 24:3 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee ^arest, from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.

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Invariably my undiagnosed ADHD (N. Cox, you might have been on to something) has kicked back into full gear:

DO SOMETHING.

Yes, parenting is doing something, but I feel like my best self when I’m working on a project. During the summer it was teaching, but this semester I’m just substituting and that doesn’t weigh on my mind the way a normal teaching gig does.  And the LSAT is done, but I’m not ready to jump into the law school game yet. 

My mother used to say when I was a child that when I am bored I make trouble.  There shall be no troublemaking.  No drama (which may mean no men?)

I needed a new project, something to stimulate my synapses after the children are in their cozy beds.  Time to put the other side of my brain into work mode.

Niya came to town!  She spent the week opening up a new hobby for me: Painting!  Like, moving beyond spray paint painting.  Not graffiti this time (MMcA, remaining nameless, that never happened) but canvas and paint and texture and sparkle and varnish and all those things I knew so little about.  My education began this week!

Of course, what I get into my kids get into, so they painted right along side us and will continue to do so. 

Here’s some of the process:

Mimi hauling canvas. 

Niya coaching Jude.

 

An old horrible painting that Silas improved upon.

Mimi calls this one Corners.  Jude is painting a picture of Spongebob, clearly.

I like that Silas knows when his paintings are finished.  He never over does it.

Jude sometimes stays up late for extra Mama time.  I love it.

  

For this one we did the background together and then Niya taught me how to do lines and edging.  It is hard. 

I might be in a dark phase.  Surprise.  Actually, this hobby is totally helping me through these difficult confusing times.  It frees my mind.

 

Exhausted.  We were up late doing these.  I’ve found it becomes addictive – when you start it bugs you until you can go back and finish.

And I may have fallen asleep mid-session.  I love our new little studio.  It’s going to stay up in the family room. 

  

   Watching Niya work is amazing.  She’ll just brush onto the canvas and it turns into the perfect curve of a foot and angle of a neck.  And she’s fast too.  She has a ton of talent.  Go see (and buy) her work here:  http://artbyniya.tumblr.com/  She does commissions too – like if you have a wall you need filled or a blank space you want dressed up she’s your girl.  I love her faces series.

 

More painting babies.  We’ve found that the less clothes you paint in the less paint you get on your clothes.

And for the finished pieces:

Lifeline

The Stars Aligned

Broken Girl