I used Kim Klassen’s “perfectlypink” texture on this image.  One layer at soft light blending mode with a 69% opacity, and one layer at multiply blending mode with a 40% opacity.

I have a serious confession… Watching tv has caused me to have brain rot.  You’re laughing.  Stop.  I’m totally serious!  I’ve been in a really bad funk for the last six months and my creativity has really suffered.  I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things with getting Project Life back on track (omg, that’s serious work) and am hoping that photography will come back into my life.  It has gotten so bad that I recently slept through a Creative Photography class taught by a photographer who has his work in Vogue magazine.  Yeah.  Me.  At my worst.

So, I decided to go back through my few attempts at portraiture in recent months and load up some images of Brielle.  I like to add texture to my work, and totally love Kim Klassen’s stuff.  I’ve been following her for about a year now.  I’ve taken so many classes, and have done so many of her assignments that it should have been like riding a bike, right?  Nope.  More like falling off one.  I literally stared at the computer dumbfounded at why my brush size didn’t get bigger when continuously pounding the + key.  O.M.G.  What?  It took me like 5 minutes playing with the slider as I adjusted my brush size the long-handed way.  I finally had an ah-ha moment and remembered the bracket keys are the brush size hot keys.  I couldn’t remember how to make a brush out of my logo either.  Still can’t.  I drug the .png of my logo onto the image.  I have to rediscover that simple task.  Wow.  So embarrassed.

I share this with you because it’s all part of the process.  I was always one of those people who got asked “How do you get so much accomplished?”  I always responded with “I don’t watch t.v.”  And I meant it.  I didn’t.  As in NEVER!  I’ve turned into another lazy American who plops down on the couch every day after work with both remote controls by my side watching episode after episode after episode…  After spending an hour on an image that should have taken me 10 minutes at most, I realize that I’ve got to get off the couch and back into my photography and design.  The only thing that I’m impressed with myself about is the fact that I can work my Wacom like a champ.  I don’t know how I’ve gotten by without the pen mouse for editing all this time.

Hopefully I’m off the couch & back on track.  It’s time to go back over all my Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, texturing, and editing videos.  Perfect timing since I’ve watched the season finale for every damn t.v. show out there.  At least I made it to the gym this morning.

p.s.  I used Kim Klassen’s “canvasbackmagic” texture on this image.

I recently found this image on Pinterest aka the go-to-time-waster. I love it. It’s so true. Holding on just drags you around and gives you serious road rash. Painful. Very, very painful. Being in the basket is a much better place to be than hanging onto the rope flailing, being dragged, and in pain hoping to make it into the basket. But you don’t. You never do. It’s better to let go and wait for your own damned balloon and soar.  Until then, it’s gonna be a seriously painful experience… hopefully you’ll survive.

Yeah, I’m totally out of order… trying to play catch up and trying to stay current all at the same time.  I need to watch less tv and sit on my computer more often.  The best thing about Project Life is that if you don’t actually plan any fun activities, there’s not much worth scrapping, lol!  So I’ve been getting out and doing a little more living the past couple weeks (or at least trying to).

I used elements from Sherwood Studios Garden Fairies collection and papers from K Pertiet’s Wintery Damask collection.