- The Bucket Digest -

    A rt as a basis of expression can mean a number of things-- or perhaps a more fitting definition; art has a number of means of execution in which a message or purpose consequently expresses or reiterates as a result. It can be social or political beliefs: a passion for animals or plants, nature in general, beauty of the world, beauty in people. Art can be melancholy or jovial. It can be a sketch, painting, sculpture, or it can just be. Today's artist is influenced by his culture and spreads the love of it through jewelry; which he creates and obtains from far places. Allow me to introduce: Alejandro Nunez. H is passion resides in his heritage,     " I am Mexica, Otomi, and Chichimeca. My Indigenous name is Tezcacoatl Xipilli Tepiltzin," and his products range:      "I make jewelry that is handmade. I get almost any stone in the world and get legally obtained animal claws and teeth. Black bear, grizzly bear, wolf, mountain lion, Mexican crocodile, coyote, bobcat

I t takes a lot of courage to be bold. Growing up, I was anything but. I was always the girl who hid behind my sketchbook or behind whatever I was reading at the time; speeding through the hallways to get to my next class, never really making eye contact with anyone but rather focused on the ground as they walked by. I was never proud of the fact that "this" was how I "was," although I suppose it had its benefits. My friends were always of the "good crowd," although I realized as I got older that most kids my age were indeed "good," just troubled.  M y sister has always been the bold type. She generally had an easy go at making friends. In fact, when we were younger, my shy self would ask her to go talk to the other kids at the park so that I could play with them too. She always obliged. It was good to have a sister like her. I think it was about junior year that I had finally started taking the initiative to talk a bit more. I was still quiet i

     W ednesday, we took a look at an abstract artist by the name of Nicholas Ashton, a man whose textures emote the wells of our feelings in every piece he creates. Today, we are discovering a woman whose art style couldn't be more different. Join me in this small feature as I elaborate, and allow me to introduce artist Kara Willhite .      T o explain justly, I must first introduce my early impressions of Willhite's work. Two words came to mind upon immediate inspection, "beautiful" and "simple." Not "simple" in the mediocre sense, as her artworks are rather quite detailed despite their simplicity (see process below), but "simple" as it correlates with an almost Nirvanic ideology.     N irvana, by definition, is a state of perfect happiness. Although our everyday lives are anything but perfect, they can at least be happy. What I'm trying to reiterate here is, that's how Willhite's works make me feel. Happy. At ease. Joyful. 

    D ear Reader,             S ometimes, the world around us feels as though it's been engulfed in flames.      S ometimes, it feels as though life exists only to torture and test the trying.      S ometimes, it seems life harbors within its days an always impending bout with Adversity-- he is inevitable-- we face him daily, and are left feeling frustrated, gloomy and defeated. As if the outside challenges weren't enough, Adversity hides in the shadows of our consciousness. He lingers in our thoughts as doubt and anxiety. He exists in the overthinker: the mother, the son, the daughter, the friend, the family, the neighbor. He is hardest to deal with when he resides in the walls of our own minds, and yet, we find the courage to rise time and time again.       I wanted to capture this, and so I reveal:       I t was probably one of those defeated days for me, and another I would simply let pass-- but what better way to face this man than with a being of equal powe

     Dear Reader,      If there was ever something that felt right to me, as though a purpose, as cliche as that sounds, nothing is more reoccurring in the back of my mind than the want to help other people. I constantly am reminded that this world can be a rather self-concerned place, and I suppose that it's only natural-- we have children to care for, careers to worry about, lives to live-- I'm no exception, and so figuring out what I could do to help the world, even if just a tiny, tiny part of it, was a bit of a challenge.      I don't know when it hit me, but one day I sat scrolling through FB greeted by images of art posts from the group I'm in, and I couldn't help but be amazed at everyone's skill and talent-- and just like that, BAM! I found myself wanting to feature them.      Featuring artists has never been a new thing -- a borrowed idea you might say, although most have subscription requirements-- but no harm could come of asking permission to

I t may be a disagreeable preference, but I feel that having two commissions going at one time~ especially when those pieces differ from each other (whether it be style, palette, subject matter, etc)~ is a rather productive way of handling both effectively. The best way to explain this may best be put simply: you grow tired of looking at one, so the other offers a reprieve of the last, offering new insight, further inspiration, bolder or softer technique (brush strokes, paint application, etc...). A new perspective may be all you need to progress a piece. With that said: as I've worked steadily on the portrait I showed in my previous post, I also began another commission in between. With excitement, I reveal below the Book Cover WIP for Author H.C Iser's upcoming release "The Pearl, the Petal, and the Pie." I still have plenty to do, but nothing beats watching how I progress: it deems itself quite the motivator for me. That's probably one of the biggest re

       I f any of my pieces displayed any similar particular trait, color is one, if not the most obvious one!😁I've made a few black and white pieces throughout my career as a student, but this is the first time in my career I had ever been commissioned to do so. Charcoal is one thing, Watercolor another, but Acrylic is something different altogether. It is my favorite medium, so luckily it hasn't been proven too challenging quite yet (I'm waiting on the clothes for that) ~~ but truth be told, the piece has definitely been a learning experience through and through.  Although I prefer to create colorful pieces, there is something quite romantic, perhaps nostalgic even, of creating a black and white piece. It’s almost as though you’re telling the world, “everything’s much simpler than it seems.” Sometimes, we just need a little simplicity. If only life could go back to how it was when we were kids: it's a dream not forgotten.       P ictured below are the WIP photos of

       C reating a background is oftentimes the biggest decision one can make when pertaining to an artwork: it can either make the piece or destroy it. Typically, artists begin with the background and work their way forward to the foreground, but I have always found that an extremely difficult process to follow, and typically begin with the latter and work my way back. And so, that leaves me with the question, “what to do with it?”  I am admittedly guilty of the following:           I will stare and stare for half hours at a time, and as I go throughout my day I will stop by my work and stare again. It’s a habit that can last several days until eventually, I decide which idea works best and then simply execute that idea onto canvas. Although, “simply” might not be the most accurate way to put it-- I have messed up quite a few times attempting to realize my image-- admittedly. Luckily, my favorite medium is quite easy to cover up, and with which doing so has often been the case in seve

     S o, as you may have acknowledged from my previous posts, I've finished both my abstract and album cover piece. If you hadn't taken a look at them, pictured below is how they turned out, and I'm fairly happy with the result of each 😊        C urrently, I'm working on finishing a portrait of a baby, whose feet and hands have been a little bit tricky, but is coming along nicely. I'll probably have it finished 100% by next week, but I'll leave some WIP pictures to look at for now (end of page).      G ood news as well, I have four (maybe 5) more commission requests as of yesterday. It is a super amazing feeling to know that your art is wanted in the world. I feel there's a lot of doubt; when starting a business, sharing your talents, etc in the idea that there exists a fear of rejection. So, when a new project arises for the sake of someone else and commissioned at that (the most important thing😁), it's a reassuring reality that I am good enough. O

      T he big question I always find myself asking is: How does one become successful? Besides what I currently understand, and perhaps the hardest to stay consistent with, being "work hard, keep trying," and "learn from and push through rejection," how does one truly become successful. More importantly, how and where does one begin?"      W inding as ceaselessly as wind through a pinwheel on a stormy day, I find myself running idea after idea through my mind. I often begin questioning ideas on a nationwide scale and then progressively attempt to shrink those questions to a much, much smaller scale, meaning me.       I n the smallest perspective I can think of, I ask myself, "what can I bring to the table?"      T he ideas shift to my hobbies. What do I like to do? What speaks to me? I know the answers to these inquiries all too well. My hobbies have grown with me through the years; what I was once terrible at have become the staples of my talen

     S o this was a first for me, but I was commissioned to create an album cover recently and happy to say I finished it last night. It took me about ten hours of work to create this; from grid to developed sketch to adding color, it was definitely an interesting process. Anywho, I really like how it turned out, so I wanted to share a little of the process with you: adding plain color behind sketch . adding stripes adjusted hair, added a katana adjusting the color of the stripes the finished result: a bit of outline around portraits, outline around the album title, and a signature to finish it off *kid deff on SoundCloud*

     I t's been a couple of days since my last post but I'm here to make known that I'm still committed to this site, and promise to post at least twice a week. I've been a little preoccupied with my Facebook and Instagram accounts as of late, and having been posting faithfully on each platform for the last month on the daily, I suppose it's only natural. Despite how focused I am on those accounts, I want my readers to know that you are just as important to me as any followers I may gain. Success is a team effort. No one can accomplish anything without support. It may sound lame, but if I can make even one person smile, or become motivated, or to think that what I have to say is something that resonates with them, then my job for the day has been accomplished.       W ith that being said, I'm here to announce this weeks and next weeks projects. There's quite a bit going on. Between shipping out commissions, working on another two, as well as completing some

    I f you've taken the time to look through my portfolio--first and foremost thank you for doing so, it's greatly appreciated 😊-- then you've probably noticed a pattern among the majority of my pieces pertaining to the medium. As you may have guessed, Acrylics are my favorite paint to use on my pieces. I suppose the reason for this is because it was the first serious paint I had been introduced to. Where we lived at the time --when I had decidedly chosen art as a passion to pursue-- I would often find my mother at the table in the kitchen nook corner, with a fine paintbrush and some acrylic paint in hand, working on a piece she'd been at for weeks. She only painted in the morning hours, when the house was silent, the coffee had been brewed, and the birds could be heard calling to each other with their songs as they sat perched amongst the huge oak tree just outside our window. Only then did she feel she had the time.      S he was a very emotive painter, but her

    I f you read my previous post (see Discovering My Passion), I spoke of my 21 short years and the passion that I pursued since the age of nine. In context, I've been drawing/painting, creating, for a little over 12 years: I'll be 22 this fall. Besides being an artist, I am the mother of two boys, Jasper (almost 2) and Solstice (currently 3 months), and I would be lying if I said keeping up with my art, my pages, and taking care of these energetic two while simultaneously keeping the house maintained was an easy thing for me to do. In fact, it's terribly difficult at times. The only time of day I have available to create is when Jasper falls asleep. I often work until at least 3am, and then I'm back up again as early as 8 or 9 in the morning. Now I'm not complaining, in fact, I'm very grateful to be able to stay home with my babies. I get to see them grow up under my supervision versus that of a daycare worker or babysitter, and I'm amazed at how they gro