Author: Elina Lewis

meditation

I used another glitter pen, and it did not turn out as well as the last one when scanned.. oh well.

Ok, I said I would think about goals for my art, and I did write down a couple.

1st, is 10 Cute or Creepy paintings. I haven’t done much painting, however I have some acrylic paints, and this gives me a way to explore it without it feeling too serious.

2nd, is 10 Landscape paintings. This one… there’s a few reasons for it. I want to stretch myself by trying to make what I see, rather than whatever pops into my head. I also understand that most of the things I make are rather niche, and when you combine that with how hard I find it to put myself out there, it’s rather difficult to make any money. Do I think landscapes are going to be a magical fix all? No. I do think I would feel better about taking them to a local art gallery, which would be a step forward.

Other than that… minorly contemplating something to help with putting myself out there, however I am an anxious bean and it will take a lot of courage on my part, so I’ll see how I’m feeling about it next time.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Happy New Year! (2026)

Wasn’t sure how the gold glitter pen would turn out when scanned. I’m glad you can kinda see it, however it does look better in person.

As for the New Year… I hope it is a good one. I know many people have their resolutions and whatnot, but I haven’t really thought about it this time. I have things I’m working on, like my art, and sewing, and myself. I haven’t really written down any goals for them though, so I’ll see what I come up with this week.

Hope you have a wonderful week, and a happy new year!!!!

Decoy

Hope you all had happy holidays!

The season tends to be pretty hectic, with set up, various celebrations and get togethers, present getting/making, on top of the regular day to day things… it can be a bit overwhelming, so I also hope you were at least able to find some times to take a breath and settle yourself so thing were a little easier.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, and a Happy New Year! (it’s already been that long???)

Bird snake?

Not a quality image. Neither was the last one, as I took them with my phone. Because my computer and scanner are not at the little office, I didn’t think to bring them home, and I haven’t really had the ability to go get them since I made them, which was the 28th…

Which also means I haven’t really been able to make more, as most of my materials are down there now.

Thankfully I did find some index cards that were hiding, and there is no shortage of random pens and mechanical pencils here. So when life gets a little too busy for me to get to the office to make something, I will just have to return to the early days of black, white, and whatever colored materials I happen to find.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

I’ve returned!

And it’s only been a year and a half. Yay for improvement!

It’s kind of been one thing after another. Figuring out medical things, a friend passing, pets passing, being down to one car in a house of five (all with places to be), and most recently not having a fridge for two months because the one that would fit where the last one died took that long to get (thankfully the weather had been cool enough to store some things outside). So by the time I was recovered from one thing, another had happened.

There’s still quite a bit on my plate, and I’m still recovering, however I’m getting better at making things work, and I hope to continue doing so (As my family likes to say “trend towards improvement!”)! I still want a nap and big cup of cocoa though.

ps: thanks to my mom for letting me use her little office while she’s doing other things, it helps a lot!!!

Hiatus… :(

I know, no picture today, I’m sad too.

As it says on the tin, I will be taking a hiatus. There’s a lot on my plate at the moment, and it’s hard to find the mental time and energy to make art and take care of… myself, really. I hope that this will be short break (especially compared to the two year debacle), and that I will be able to share many good things with you all once I’m back!

Until then. I hope you all are well, and have many wonderful days ahead. Safe travels!

~Elina

Fun with Plants (there’s a lot today, so bear with me)

Don’t worry! I’m not disappearing again! Last week was just REALLY busy. There were birthdays, a party, medical appointments, another thing, AND getting ready for General Conference! Combined with the other things I usually do in a week, and I’m surprised I made a coloring page! (it’s for the recovering perfectionist series as I’m going to try to alternate publications)

All that being said, this week was a bit more like I’m used to, and I was able to try an idea I had a few weeks ago. Said idea: press some plants and draw what I see in what they leave behind. If that doesn’t tell you how little I know flower pressing, this next bit might. Only the dandelions left anything, two of which also had brown with the yellow.

However! Not wanting to be deterred from my quest to make SOMETHING this week, I went over them with brush pens and then pressed them, individually, onto the paper… like very annoying stamps… and then proceeded with the rest of the idea!

My thoughts on it? It’s fun and whimsical, while also providing a kind of base to work from. However, it may be a few more steps then I have time or energy for, and I’m not sure how well a larger singular creature would work. Either way, I think it’s good creative exercise.

I hope you all have a wonderful month, and that I will see you here again in May!

https://youtu.be/ClbdvRFhxvM

P.S. I may need to rethink posting time, as the videos are currently posted at the same time as these, which I think means I can’t embed them till I get up, and I get up LATE compared to most people.

P.P.S. turns out it will embed it once available!

A Moment of Peace

My scanner and I had some disagreements about colors again.

This piece was inspired by my backyard, the growing season coming up, a call to artists at my local art center, and my own wishes for a moment of peace.

In other news: I finally have some author copies on their way, should be here next week. My vinyl cutter is set up and I’ve been having some fun designing things, and now have some fun little sticker things to play with and figure out what to do with. I now have cards with my website and YouTube on them. And my garlic is sprouting!

Here’s the link if you want to watch me make it https://youtu.be/ku1i0_trsQE

Hope you all are well, and can find your own moments of peace!

The Brethren

Did you say… SERVICE PROJECT?

Pardon the quality of picture. I have a new computer, and am still setting things up, so I’m using my phone for this one.

Playing around with water color again, however this time I have some water color paints from a travel kit I got. So far I’ve found them better for larger areas of one color and mixing the color you want, and I think pencils are better for detail and shifts from one color to another. However it has been a while since I’ve work with the pencils, so my memory could be off on that.

Another thing I’ve started doing for this, is having a little blank note pad to sketch and put the very basic composition and shapes in. Which may seem like a no-brainer to you, however it wasn’t something I was used to doing, and I think that had a huge part in my burn out. Once I drew something, it was done, finished, no need to come back to it. So my sketchbooks were filled with either things I considered finished, messy doodle pages, or unfinished. And when I started sharing my art on here, all of a sudden I felt like all of the things I made had to look good. And the weight of things needing to look good, combined with the one and done-ness of how I was making art, took a huge toll on my creativity and enjoyment of making these creatures. Jury’s still out on the frequency of posting.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a lovely Valentine’s day this month! See you in the next!