This summer is going to be THE BEST

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Well, I have some exciting news that I needed to share!  I'm going to be spending the summer completely focused on my Norse Mythology series.

Normally I teach during the summer as well, working for a sort of kids art day-camp that OCSA runs that lasts 8 weeks.  I've dreamed of being able to take the summer off from teaching and just work on my art.  That dream has come true thanks to a grant I was chosen for!  The school I teach at during the normal school year, Orange Co. School of the Arts, for the first time offered two creative enrichment grants for teachers.  I was so excited to be chosen and I'm using the money to live on (since I'm technically a part-time teacher I don't get paid during the summer) so I can just be in my studio all summer.

My grant proposal outlined this Norse Mythology series that I've been working on here and there for the past year or so -- as seen in some of my previous posts.  My goal is to complete 13 finished digital paintings for this series.  This will reinvigorate my portfolio, as well as providing works for a gallery exhibit of some kind, and maybe even merchandising usage (cards, calendar, etc?)

The above photo is from my little studio set-up at my place.  I have a make-shift light table that's my drawing surface.  I start from actual drawings that will then be scanned to create digital paintings in Photoshop using my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet.

As I get rolling I am starting with honing and in some cases reworking the images I had already had going.  Then on to some of the new images.  My deadline isn't actually until January, but of course I plan to do the bulk of the work during this free & clear work time over the summer.

I'm trying to surround myself with lots of helpful inspiration related to the project and am finding Pinterest boards to be super helpful.  I plan on spending some time watching and learning from some YouTubes of digital artists that I like demo-ing paintings.  I'd love to hear any one else's suggestions too.