I don't know what I'm doing

I'm just doing it.

There’s this refrain from a PBS kids show that pings around in my brain whenever I’m doing something creative. It goes, “I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m just doing it”. It’s really catchy, sums up my feelings about my creative process and has become my working motto. I’ve been singing it in my head all week as I’m starting to paint some art for this art show I’m participating in.

There are a bunch of new folks here so I’ll catch you up real quick on what I’ve been working on. Most of my art is done digitally. I draw things on the iPad and post them on the internet or have them printed. Over the past year an artist in the neighborhood has asked me to paint some things for different fundraisers, he just sort of assumed I could paint things after seeing my digital artwork online. I was excited and nervous about making them because I don’t paint, I’ve only taken one old lady oil painting class as an adult. It’s always been intimidating to me, I feel like you need to know things to paint well. But I said yes and made a few paintings for the various fundraisers and really enjoyed the process. A couple paintings sold really quickly and this generous artist asked if I wanted to be in a group show with three cool dudes in April. I said, “YES!”. Now I’m going through the process of making the paintings. And I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m doing it.

I started by sketching all the designs on the iPad, sorting out the layout and making sure all colors worked together. Now I’m painting the things I came up with, and it’s been very interesting to see how things are changing from the original designs once I start painting. This is how the first painting has evolved from the original sketch to the painting I’ve been working on.

First, I’m so much more sensitive to color while painting. It’s wild! I’m mixing up all my own colors and I guess this should have been obvious but the colors feel so different on the canvas than on the screen. Second, geeze louize, so much of the time I’m spending “painting” is really just spent staring. Like I make a decision step back and stare at it for five minutes to figure out if it’s the right decision. I think the layers on my painting are a mile thick because I’ve changed my mind so many times painting over it again and again. I do miss the undo button. Certain things will stick out and you’ll know the right decision, like if there are two colors that are too close in value so you have to change one to make it pop, or I made the ants huge at first and had to scale them down. Often though the next step isn’t super obvious. You don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re just doing it.

Is the painting done? I don’t think so. But I gave myself three days to work on each painting before moving on to the next and then I’ll circle back after I’ve gotten through all the designs. Just so I keep moving. I’ve learned while making pattern designs in collections that things will occur to you while you’re working on the other pieces. When one of your designs is really good you want the rest to rise to that level so you approach the revisions in different ways. Does that make sense? I don’t know, I’m curious how my first collection of paintings will evolve as I go through this process. Feeling very thankful for the opportunity!

Mark your calendar for April 13th and you can come out and see how this all shakes out. It could be great! I could bomb! It could be meh. Stay tuned. 6-8pm is the opening at the Fairmount House in Philly.

Here’s a little closeup of the cute ant to entice you further.

Things worth sharing:

Local artist Serena Niesley has a lovely newsletter. It’s got drawings! It’s got ducks! All my favorite things. She’s a great follow.

I went to my first Philly Creative Mornings talk. My friend Sarah gave a talk about her music ed publishing company FFlat Books. I had to stop myself from crying during her talk, just sitting there holding back the tears. It was so moving to see my friend chase after her calling. The whole thing is available online.

Elliott and Jason both got the flu last week. I had just gotten a flu shot a couple weeks ago at a checkup and escaped with only a minor headache. I’m putting flu shots on our calendar next fall because this was the pits.

The internet has been telling me that 30 minutes of housework can count as my physical activity for the day and that I should move for ten minutes after meals to help stabilize my blood sugar. I think I’m going to combine the two and do 10 minutes of housework after every meal. I’ll report back on how this goes. At the very least my house will be cleaner. It feels attainable-ish.

This is just a random praise for my chainmail cast iron skillet cleaner. I bought it for my cast iron pan but use it on all sorts of pans to get stuck on gunk off. It doesn’t look like it should work, but it is super effective and doesn’t scratch anything.

We drive to Alabama every year to visit Jason’s family and I dream of stopping and staying at folk artist Howard Finster’s house on the way down. Here’s the airbnb listing.

With all the sickness the show Big City Greens was on all day every day, and I didn’t even go bananas. I love that show almost as much as Elliott does. I feel a strong kinship with Tilly Green.

Currently reading Wonder to Elliott at bedtime.

I’m listening to The Dutch House on libby while painting.

I spent part of a day while everyone was sick distracting myself by making chatgpt create staycation itineraries. My prompts would be things like, “make an itinerary for a local to enjoy Fairmount Park for the day” or “make a three day itinerary for a trip to Philadelphia for someone who enjoys good food on a budget.” Highly recommend for a little mental escape.

My Shop: phillycornerstore.bigcartel.com

I wrote a book!

E-mail: halestormenator@gmail.com

Instagram: haleyharmondraws

Portfolio: haleyharmon.com