Light Up Your Life With Art

All day I worked on this piece, adding a bit here and there, tweaking it a little, for three reasons:

1. I love creating and sharing art
2. My CLmooc friends are participating in a December Art Challenge and today is “Lights”
3. I needed to learn how to make the lights glow.

This was created in ProCreate 4. The plant art decoration is from previous pieces which I could import, revise, and arrange, adding shadow and light as needed for the piece.

To create the glow of the lights, draw the parts separately — the light and its receptacle. Use the “select” tool to select lights individually or in pairs to fill with color. Duplicate the now colored light layer. Apply a Gaussian blur to that layer, and a little less in the layer below. You may want to duplicate more layers. Also notice that I followed the technique of adding a translucent airbrush to show the reflecting colors from the lights on the letters and plants.

I always get so delighted when I finish and then save my art to Flickr or as a product at one of my stores. But then, I always notice something not quite right, and sometimes that is deliberate.

And, that’s the thing about art that’s created with care and passion by human beings– there’s always something not perfect, which is what makes it special.

There’s quite a history of “deliberate mistakes” in artwork, which you can read about here. Whether for spiritual, accidental, or personal reasons, these imperfections help us appreciate us as imperfect beings.

Would you like to look at some artwork by artists who love what they do and have chosen to share their work in ways that help support their art?

Each artist has a style all their own, and there’s always someone to connect with.

Here are two examples of great artists sharing their work for you to enjoy by creating print on demand products with their art. I love the whimsey of Moshie’s creatures and the delicate symmetry of Julie’s mandalas.  Take a peek:

and mine:

Take a look, and get some ideas for your own art– then come back and share a link for us to learn and enjoy from you.