In search of a mentor

I was speaking with my cousin earlier today on the topic of growing up. Hey, it's a relevant thing for two twenty-somethings to be thinking about! Ok, so my cousin is almost a twenty-something, but that's besides the point. We're both going through changes in our lives like we never expected. She just finished her first year at college, I'm getting married... understandably, growing up is on our minds. Even though she and I are at different stages, one question struck a chord with both of us: "Am I even doing this right?"

Good question, and one we can't really answer. There are no set standards for maturity, you can't google "timeline of life" and find out exactly what you should be doing at any given age. It's simply not that simple. So what's the solution? Well, a mentor.

What has Amber been up to?

Mostly stuff like this work:

I'm still running through some touch-ups on it, like trying to fix that fox's shadow.
I've been doing that, and figuring out my life and the such. I'm considering working as a librarian quite seriously these days. Just trying to make it through the winter, I guess.

Woodpecker

Shawn and I went hiking yesterday and found this tree. He says the holes are from woodpeckers, and that some native legends attribute the inspiration for wooden flutes to woodpecker bores like these.

Watercolor

I decided to teach myself to paint with watercolors today. When I first touched the brush to paper I was so excited I ended up painting the whole first page in this notebook yellow. The second paper wasn't much better, since I mixed the yellow with blue and discovered the amazingness of texture that came forth from the brush. By the time I got to the third page I had sufficiently calmed down enough to manage to paint an actual image. It's another study of the lake, since that's my current project:



I have an idea for another one, if I have time I'll post it tonight.

Reflections

Blueberries

Oh how I miss summertime...

Pastels

I hope everyone had a great new year! In case you haven't heard me shouting it from rooftops, Shawn and his Dad made me a new easel for Christmas this year. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get any canvas yet, so I busted out my pastels and made this quick sketch, inspired by a real place from my childhood. Hopefully we find some large enough canvas soon so I can turn it into a painting.