Another Art Contest Opportunity – My Entries

| marandarussell

In the past couple months I have actually entered art into 3 different art contests/exhibitions. I already shared the art I submitted to the contest I placed in last year, but thought I would share a few artworks I submitted for a brand new contest. This contest will be choosing a variety of artworks that will be exhibited in New York and Oregon, and will be used to produce derivative products based on the selected art. If my art is chosen, I will get a 25% royalty on all products sold with my design, plus whatever the art sells for at exhibit.

I tried to pick a variety of my recent artwork to submit. I decided to go with this cute wolf portrait:

#1

A nice abstract design:

#2

And something a little inspirational and personal:

#3

I hope they pick at least one of my pieces for their exhibits!

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Candle Magic Painting Class

| marandarussell

Last night I went to a candle magic painting class. It was a lot of fun, but harder than it looks! The “magic” part of it is that we used some runes/esoteric symbols for inspiration. Here is how my rune/symbolic candle turned out:

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I took some liberty with the symbols and even created a couple of my own. I wanted my candle to have a bit of an Egyptian feel, which I think the black scythe and the black and gold detail does give a bit of that impression.

We also painted a tealight candle, and while mine started out as a symbol for Hades, the candle was NOT easy to paint on and it kind of turned into an abstract expressionistic painting, but I still like it:

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It looks a little like a tormented soul in Hades to me, so that works I suppose ♥

 

Poetry – Pledge of Allegiance (Hades)

| marandarussell

under
I pledge allegiance
to the underworld
of our darkest King, Hades,
and his beautiful,
Queen of duality, Persephone.

And to the lost souls
upon the shores of the Styx,
one hellscape,
under the earth,
brought together
with eternity
and somber humility
for all.

(I have to give props to Green Day’s song “Minority” for giving me the first two lines of this poem and the idea to run with it!)

I love those cartoon characters who are grumpy and depressed…

| marandarussell

Feeling grumpy today, so thought I’d share this old post from way back in 2013! This post is one that gets frequent traffic, even though the likes and comments on it are not high. Most of the traffic it gets are from Google searches. I would love it if you guys showed it a little love with a few more likes and comments if you relate!

Maranda Russell

grumpyclub

Do you love cartoons? I absolutely do. However, I think when most people think of cartoons they think of funny, silly stuff. What I love are the depressed, angry, grumpy, slightly emo characters…

  • Those like Eeyore, who walk around like they are on the verge of suicide, but are just too lazy to actually do it.
  • Wile E. Coyote who is so darn smart but seems to have really ticked off the powers that control nature and gravity. (I really wish I could see an episode where Wile catches that bird, roasts him and then tears him limb from limb with a fork and eats the stupid thing.)
  • Lucy, who likes to snatch the football away at the last minute and laugh, or Charlie Brown, who falls for the same trick over and over and then wonders what the heck is wrong with him.
  • Scar, who can look around and…

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Music Themed Art Contest – My Final Picks for Submission

| marandarussell

I wrote a post the other day about my anxiety over entering an art contest I placed in last year, well, I went ahead and chose my three pieces to submit and thought I would show you guys the ones that made the cut. Here are the three I made that I submitted to the contest:

MarandaRussell_Synesthesia_2.5x3.5inches
Oil pastel, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Synesthesia (the contest theme is officially “music and synesthesia” this piece illustrates synesthesia, in this case, the ability to “see” color when you hear music notes).
MarandaRussell_FeeltheMusic_9x12inches
Oil pastel, 9″ x 12″, Feel the Music
MarandaRussell_SoundStorm_8x8inches
Acrylic/Gouache painting, 8″ x 8″, Sound Storm

I also made this fourth painting, but could only submit 3 pieces to the contest, so I ended up listing this one for sale on my Ebay store:

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Stressful Week – Sick Kitty & CFS Flare Up

| marandarussell
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Our poor, sick kitty Spyder.

This week has been stressful. First off, I have a sick kitty that has recently cost us over $700 in vet bills (for severe diarrhea) and even after spending all that money and giving him antibiotics and treating him for parasites just in case, he isn’t any better. The clean up hasn’t been any fun at all either.

I’m not sure if he is not any better because something else is wrong with him or because we had a hell of a time getting him to eat the food with his medicine in it. I don’t know how much of the medicine he even got down. He has a follow up with the vet this Friday, so we’ll see what they say. Maybe they’ll give us another way to give him the meds or run more tests to see what is going on. Either way, more $.

I have also been struggling with exhaustion, full body achiness, and general malaise since our trip on my birthday near the end of October. My CFS/ME is flaring big time. Chronic fatigue syndrome sucks and the name is misleading, because it is so much more than fatigue. It is more like the worst flu that keeps on going and going and coming back again and again.

Wish I had better things to report, but that’s the truth, and I always try to be honest with you all.

Art Show Anxiety – Past Wins, Future Failures? Am I Good Enough?

| marandarussell

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Ok, so this past year I placed and won an award in a pretty prestigious art competition. One of those fancy ones where you have to pay hundreds of dollars to even go to the art show and sale, and the auction bids can get pretty crazy. It was for charity though, so I didn’t mind the high price stuff related to it. This was definitely the most “high-brow” art show I have been a part of.

Now they have announced that the first year’s show was such a success that they are doing the competition for 2020 too. I plan to enter and am excited about it, but also really nervous and filled with self doubt. I keep feeling like if I don’t place at all next year or at least place as high as I did this year that I will somehow be failing.

I tell myself this is ridiculous. There are so many talented artists out there and if I don’t place again it won’t mean that I am less talented, it will only mean that they preferred someone else’s take on the contest subject matter. Also, I want other artists to feel the happiness I felt when I found out I had been selected as a winner. I don’t want to be selfish.

I know deep down this is probably about my perfectionistic streak and low self-esteem. Part of me feels like it was just a lucky fluke to be recognized by the “elite” art world at all. I wish I could not put this unnecessary pressure on myself. I know it isn’t healthy or helpful. Any suggestions for how to let go of the fear of failure?