- The Bucket Digest -

If you've been following this blog, then you're probably wondering why I have been inactive lately.  As many of you know, life has a way of... changing.  And well, there's been a lot of changes.  The biggest change is that I've started a new job.  My main job for the last 1.5 years was as a stay-at-home-mom.  If you don't consider this a job, consider the housely/wifely duties and how they'd transfer into the real world. i.e.  cooking (personal chef-  $31k - $101k yr ) cleaning (maid-  $27k yr )  taking care of the children's needs (caretaker-  31.4k yr ) tracking the bills/payments (accountant- 64k yr) setting appointments (secretary- 40k yr) etc.. etc... Anyways, that aside, I've recently taken up as a freelancer for a company called EarthMade.  My titles vary from copywriter to creative specialist, and I am currently writing daily for the EarthMade product newsletter.  www.earthmadeproduct.com I've always wanted to work from home, and I'm trul

      As an Acrylic painter, I truly admire the patience it takes to work with watercolor.  In terms of how fast a medium dries, the following list is from slowest to fastest: Oil, Watercolor, Guache,  Acrylic:       For all the love I have of painting, I am often impatient with it at times, so Acrylic has always been my go-to. It's also what I grew up using, so I've mastered it much further than I have its cousins.       Although, alternatively, there is a method that exists  that can speed up the drying process of any medium: via GIPHY  ^ the Blow Dryer     As easy as it seems, I don't know many artists who do it. Perhaps it's because most of us find ourselves wanting to take a break from a piece; to refresh the mind and encourage rest for next-day motivation. Perhaps too, one uses a medium's dampness to their advantage; with oil, to blend seamlessly, and with watercolor, depending on whether you paint wet on dry paper or wet on wet paper, its dampness can accomp

   “A lthough no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending” -Carl Bard      I f there was ever an artist that embodied this quote, that artist would be Merilyn Hernandez. From lingering to overcoming, Hernandez’s paintings developed to harbor the change that comes from embracing our pasts and its subsequent growth as we push forward into a new way of life.      T o witness the transition, we’ll compare these two images below:   Moving Forward, Reaching Backwards 2017    Stand Tall 2017      H ues of purple, red and blues depicting bruises, half-hidden faces (perhaps a reference to identity), and an exaggerated figure are just a few of the similarities between these two artworks, but it is in its subtle differences that the transition from traumatic past to peaceful present can be witnessed.      I n the first painting, we see a female figure that appears to be moving forward— the small space in front of her looks less contaminate

H ow would one best describe an art style? It's a funny inquiry for me to pose to you when in all honesty, I don't quite understand how to answer this question myself yet. To elaborate, I suppose my personal style isn't something I feel I've fully developed to the degree I hope to achieve. My biggest problem is finding a style I like and keeping consistent with it. I often switch between two or three different styles, depending on what I'm creating at the moment or the look I want to achieve. The difference between my realism and my cartoony works is as clear as they're meant to be, but my cartoon style seems to change from the previous drawing to the next. It's like the difference between these following images of mine:   A s you can see, my paintings are created using various techniques. I really love how I did the skin in the vine-head piece, with additions of purples and an overall blocky, textured execution of the skin. I also enjoy my smoother-skinned

       I understand how the whole "my passion found me" line seems like a total cliché but it does have its merits. In my 23 short years, I've only experienced true, soul-serving, focus-obsessing, work-encompassing passion once in my life. I've had plenty of interests run across my plate but nothing had ever wet my palette as much as art had.       I t started as a small flame and grew into an uncontrollable need to create and improve as I did so-- here is why I'd describe it as a passion finding me: I had been scrolling through Netflix, you know, as we often do, attempting to find a new show to watch, and I found myself stuck on this cute Japanese animation. It was the first one I'd ever watched, but there was just something about it that I couldn't take my eyes away from. T he lead, I found, was everything I wanted to be. She was kind-hearted, accepting, loving, a hard worker, hopeful; the ideal daughter and friend. Not that I wasn't any of th