Good afternoon & happy holiday to you all! I hope your day is a fantastic one, whether you are celebrating the 4th of July with friends & family, laying low in peaceful bliss at home or even if you have to work today. Here in the Gemini Pearl household, we are just laying low in peaceful bliss. Nothing too much going on around here in the way of celebration. Sometimes a quiet, restful day is just what one needs the most so that is exactly what we are doing today.

It’s been a busy time for me in the art studio recently. As I said last week, I started painting a new commissioned ukulele and I absolutely can’t wait to show you the final work. I’m about 1/3 of the way into this project but I am pleased with the way it is turning out so far. It’s very hard staying tight lipped about some projects, especially when the process is going well. But I have been & will continue taking progress photos during the different phases of this process so when I DO have permission to share it with you all, I can show you EVERYTHING!

I am also still trucking along full speed ahead in my online graphic design specialization classes. I have to admit though, this past week has been a little more tedious in the class than usual. We are learning about Typography (the style and appearance of printed matter) and some of it…. well, some of it is just downright boring! The class is diving very deep into Typefaces & their histories, exploring the way typefaces express connotative meaning & tell stories through their association with different time periods, aesthetics, and ideas. While some of it is interesting, I have to be quite honest, it bores me to tears when they start throwing in names & dates of who & when certain typefaces were created & for what reason. I am not very good at remembering names & dates in my own life experiences let alone names & dates that were hundreds of years ago! I know I will be tested & graded on this subject matter though so I’ve been taking notes like crazy so I can look back if I need to.

While I’ve been painting & attending class, I’ve also been thinking about how I can improve this blog. I am very new at this, & I am sort of learning as I go. I’ve been contemplating different avenues I can take this blog down, aside from just writing about my weekly projects & art adventures. While I do stay very busy in the art studio, I also know that not everyone wants to continuously hear the often times very boring details about what I am doing. Art is awesome & I am very thankful that I am able to create art on a daily basis as well as share my art with the community, but the reality is also that sometimes it takes me a few weeks, if not much longer, to complete an art project. Just like my Typography class is boring me to tears right now, I know that repetition & miniscule updates on the same project week after week would probably bore YOU to tears! For those of you who have been reading my blog, I thank you with all of my heart for giving me a bit of your time each week to chat with you & tell you what is going on with my art, but I want to bring more to the conversation. I want to talk about ALL art. I want to discuss mine, yours, everyone’s art both famous and unknown. I also want to know what YOU want me to talk about. Are you interested in something in particular concerning my artwork? Do you want me to talk about a specific topic related to art? Let me know what you would like to chat about, I am listening! Please leave your thoughts & opinions in the comment section for me. Art is a great subject to start up great conversations amongst friends… so let me know in the comments what YOU want to talk about!

Before I go, I wanted to share with you a beautiful piece of art that I actually discovered recently on a card that was sent in the mail to me. Greeting cards sometimes are a great way to discover new artists & that is exactly what happened with this card. Always look on the back or inside a greeting card to see if you can find the name of the artist that created the art on the cover. This painting below was created by Mary Lou Troutman & it was so beautiful to me that I went straight to Google to see if I could find her, and I did! Her artwork is absolutely amazing & if you are a Nature & outdoor lover like I am, you will adore her work! She has links on her website to check out her gallery of art, as well as an Etsy page & she sells prints of her work. Her website is: https://www.maryloutroutman.com/home so you can learn more about her and her amazing work!

That’s all for now my friends! Let me know what you’re up to, & what your thoughts may be on what I discussed above. I’ll see you soon!