how do you find the time...what makes you happy

Something I get asked a lot is when do you have the time to paint? From the mouth of babes "mommy paints when baby is asleep".

If I could I would paint all day. I constantly have ideas and can't wait to go home and paint. When I am out and I get inspired, so I then take photos of what inspires me and this get used as reference or inspires an idea! Some nights yes I totally pass out at 9, I'm a parent of three, I'm busy and exhausted, some nights I spend time with my partner binge watching something great on netflix. And then there are my paint nights! The hardest part of anything is getting started, you are tired you have a list of excuses of things you could do, and should do. I absolutely love my time painting and did ever since I was a shy kid with no money, that instead of canvas I would paint on my old jeans in my bedroom, or sketch of scraps of paper my dad brought home from work. I'm now 36 and after life changing events of the last few years, I am so happy to see every sunrise and sunset, I can't wait to paint anything that inspires me, that catches my breathe, or makes me pause and be mindful. When I pick up a paint brush and start to paint I get lost in colour, in light and shadow, on shilouttes, on if i captured what I wanted to. Does it feel right, what's missing, am I going to make a happy little accident along the way? Or is this piece for the scrap pile? I don't think about bills, appts, everyday stresses of life, I get so focused on what I am creating, it really is something magical that you can lose yourself in, before you know it minutes turn into hours... Do I wakeup tired after, sure, of course, sometimes, but often I wakeup happy, because I created something, something that I created with my hands. Sometimes I create something I truly love, or something that I can't wait to get back to and finish, sometimes I created a mess, something that is a stepping stone, a mistake that when I look back at has taught me a lesson and that makes me happy. And I can't wait to do it again.

What do you do that really makes you happy?

Art Show and website!! busy busy

Ok so I have been super busy, I have been painting like mad and have an art show in just over one week!! On March 30th 2017 from 6-9pm I will be at Port 1 cafe in Port Credit! My artwork is currently on display there and I will be donating 10% of proceeds to SickKids. I am really looking forward to the art show it will be a great night.

I have a new website now as well as I started a Facebook page that I post regularly to. Please check out the following sites:

a shotton.ca
www.facebook.com/AShottonArtist/

Sketch - Kubo and the two strings

Kubo and the two strings, what an amazing movie, loved it! Would love to work on a movie like this someday.

Dog Days of Summer

24" x 12" Acrylic on canvas
Inspired by a photo a friend took (Tim Smith) with some alterations. Thought it was a beautiful shot and I wanted to recreate it in my own style.

Hello palette knife

Inspired by local nature I was inspired to actually use my palette knife (something that I barely touched before). Loved the texture, and the contrast. The leaf colour was actually referenced from the bush I saw. I keep leaf reference now in an impressionists painting book I have just for this exact purpose. Had lots of fun creating these.

Logo design - Clarington Photography club

While having and enjoying a busy summer, I was approached to do a logo design for the Clarington Photography club. I quickly accepted this. Over the span of a week I came up with ideas, sketches, and did a few logos for client approval. Happy to say they picked my favourite. Clarington always has wonderful festivals and love their scenery, flowers... so I incorporated flower petals in rgb (as they are dealing with print photos) into the logo (which is a camera lense). I am proud and happy to see the logo being used and published. It was a fun project to work on.

where have I gone...

I know right it's been a couple of months. These months admittedly have been a blur. August, sept, oct and what how is it fall?? I have been rebuilding my computer for the last couple of weeks and thinking about catching up on things. I am a big summer person, I find any excuse to be outside enjoying the weather. We live in canada, so really we have 3-4 months of beautiful weather and we all go crazy over it!! Instead of inside on the computer and discouraged from a painting gone wrong, I was outside enjoying the weather with my sketchbook in tow.  Here's a couple of pieces from the sketchbook, quick doodles. And wow has fall left me so inspired, I can't wait to get the canvas and paints out!!!