my art schpeal... :)

Tuesday I mostly worked on commissions. I'm doing commissions now!! :) The Kirkbys are having me do portraits of all of their kids baby pictures. That makes me suuuper happy!! It's a little intimidating, but it's awesome.
(This one is Amanda Kirkby. Isn't she darling??? :) ------>

It's weird to finally say I'm an {artist}.
I've always avoided using that term.
Partially because I feel like that's me bringing myself up and pretending I'm "that good." Because I still have so much to learn. But I guess.. Don't all artists?
Mostly it scares me because that means I'm closer to achieving my dream.
I think my dream is just kinda scary.
I've always wanted to be an artist.
Always.
-In fact, when I was in Kindergarten people would always ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. What did I say?
"When I grow up I want to be an artist who sells my paintings on my lawn as I sing to people."
Hahahaha!!! :) I was a silly kid.-

I've always wanted to be an artist, I've just never been good enough.
I lost sight of that dream in Junior High because I knew there was NO way. Goodness, if you saw my stuff from back then you'd say the same.


8th Grade I took Drawing. Sooo frustrating. I wanted to be good, but it was a constant battle between what I thought it should be, and what my eyes saw. I always trusted my mind. Nothing worked. I stayed after school for hours with Wilhelm. So was so patient, and would try and point things out to improve on. I didn't see it, but I trusted her, and so I changed it. I relied so heavily on her skill. It was bad how bad I was. I always did the sketching homework the night before, and it was just embarrassing.

<<(This is my "Before" from the class. My self portrait.)


...Can I just say how much I hate this picture???


9th Grade I wanted to take Drawing again. Cause I was baaadd..
Halfway through the semester things started making sense. I started to get it. I finally trusted my eyes, and put away whatever useless hints my mind had for me. And I started getting better.
Towards the end of the year. I wanted it. I wanted it bad. Finally it seemed it just might be a possibility. Maybe I could be good at art! I remember the day Ms. Wilhelm gave me a letter at the end of class. She suggested me to be in Honors Art at OHS. When I read it I started literally JUMPING for joy. I was sooooooooo happy!!!!!!!! :) I remember she told me if I worked really hard during the summer I would be good enough for the rest of the class.

That was a challenge.
Leavitt Stubbornness kicked in.
I was hooked... :)
  
(8th Grade Before, 9th Grade After. LOTS of ----> improvement, all because of Wilhelm. At the time I was suuuper proud of my After. Now I just want to fix everything. :) But I need to stop being so critical of myself..)
< (This little girl was done in April. I remember when I came out of my Dad's Office after working on it, and how shocked my Aunt Sherri and my Mom were. They didn't know I could do something that good. I didn't either. It was a huuuuge confidence booster that pushed me to want to improve. My Mom and my Aunt have always been so supportive. I love them so much!!)

So all summer long I worked. Constantly sketching, improving, learning, growing.
Suddenly things made sense.

My Aunt Lisa gave me this GORGEOUS watercolor set that she wasn't using. So I picked up watercolor, and I LOVED it!!! (This is my first watercolor of a sunset.) ------------------------------------------------------------------>
And after that I was hooked. :)
(Stuff from Summer '11)

Honors Art, 10th Grade. Sooooooooo nervous. And then I looked around the room and I just about died. Everyone in that room was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO talented. Every time I got up to look around my mind was blown. Claire Eyestone ( I love her to death!!) Sat next to me and was really nice to me. But holy cow, her art was suuuper intimidating!! And Hannah Thompson's art was just UNREAL!!!! Still rather
extremely jealous in a huge fan type of way. :) And of course, Emily Millard, my art idol from the beginning. Man that girl is ridiculously phenomenal.I love her to death!! :)
First Project in Honors Art.


(For my Painting class. It was in Springville's Christmas Show. ->

v (One of my first projects for Painting. "Twin Telepathy" of my niece and nephew Rolf and Poppy. :)

 

                                                                                                          ^"The Coy Adventurer."

 (The Little girl from 9th grade? Well I started over and finished
 her in 10th grade. I improved a ton this year.) v

^ (Drawing of my darling Cousin Wayne. April '12)

(Hands Expression Piece for Honors. "Daydream Believer" first time with Prisma Colored Pencils.) --------------------------->










And here's the commission I just finished.

I'm so excited to keep learning and improving. And I feel hopeful about my future.

I'm a firm believer in the saying:
"Hard work beats talent 

when talent doesn't work hard."

So yeah. There's my art schpeal. :)

I hope you have an AMAZING day! :)
-Haily.

P.S. I still need to post about Girls Camp. I'm just not sure what to say. I could go play by play and tell every single thing, or I could say hardly anything. I haven't decided which one yet.

P.S.S. Monday I went on an EPIC date with Mitch. So so SO fun!! But I'll wait to tell you more about that till the pictures are posted. Then it will be more interesting. :)