Nature and other things...

 One of the great things about the above three trees is that, though they may not be very realistic, they span three different art mediums (art mediums are like the materials that you make something out of).  In this case, I used charcoal for the first picture on the left, pastels for the middle picture, and pencil for the third picture (on the right).  It's really fun to try different mediums because each produces its own special effect.

Oil Pastels

"Other stuff"

A landscape done with pen and ink. 

This is the "other things" from the title...

What Do You Do When You're Depressed? Art, Of Course!

I have suffered from pretty severe depression the last three and a half years or so.  I've dealt with highs, lows, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.  It's been difficult and trying beyond explanation. One of the ways I tried to deal with it was through artwork.  I find it incredibly therapeutic and it's a great release of emotion.  It's a way to convey things that are near impossible to explain verbally or things that are just too difficult or personal to talk about.  Here are my depression/darker pieces, let me know what you think by leaving a comment!

 This following piece is the only one I am going to give a description about, because to try to explain the rest in words would take away from what they are trying to say.  This next one was created from a short story that I wrote, which basically describes the doors as blocking my way from going through the pain in order to get better.  You can't see it in this photo, but behind the black inside the door are many small words that overlap, saying things like, "Dead," "Gone," "So alone," etc.

This is probably one of my most personal pieces, along with the second picture on this post, the one with the blade.

Acrylic Adventures

Acrylics!

This is not my favorite acrylic painting that I've done.  But I've included it here because I like the even tone of the background and the blue lines.  But that's about it.  Sometimes when working on a painting that isn't turning out the way you want, you just have to look for the positives.

I love making crazily lined drawings, especially in Sharpie.  This is not, obviously, in Sharpie since it's on my Acrylic Adventures page.  So it's in... you guessed it!  Acrylic.  Done on canvas.

This crazily lined acrylic is a bit more graceful than the previous one because of the thinner lines.  This painting also has brighter colors than the last one because I didn't put the black over top of it like I did on the last one.  Done on canvas.

This next work was done on multi-purpose paper.  It held up pretty well with the acrylic paint.  This is based off of a photo I took in South Dakota years ago. 

 

This was really one of the first times I'd really worked with acrylic paints, at least as far as landscapes goes.  I went to a class with my aunt at the Troy Community Center (I think) and we watched as the teacher painted a picture.  We copied what he was doing and this is what happened.  My favorite part of the picture was the tree.  I painted the trunk first in brown, then brushed on the green foliage.  Afterwards I took some yellow and highlighted the right side of the tree (where the light was coming from 

This final picture was one that I tried to do "out of my head." By that I mean that I wasn't looking at anything when I tried to draw it.  That's probably why I don't think it turn out as well as some of my other pieces.  Nevertheless, I do like the grass in the picture.  It seems to have depth and isn't just one big mass of solid green color.