Project Do Something 2/Perspectives of a lemon

Today's one of those cold, rainy days that we rarely get to enjoy here in Southern California. I woke up early and blogged and thought that would be it for the day. So I called my mom and talked to her, and 

since she'd just read my first "crafty" post, she asked, "what's project #2 going to be?"

Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. I was so excited about finishing up 1 that I hadn't really considered what 2 would be, or when I would start it. Why not now?

Today is also one of those days where I have to go to work tonight. I try to get up early, be productive, and then take a nap in the afternoon before getting ready for work in the evening. It's nice to have the day to work on things, but a lot of time gets spent thinking about the night ahead of you, hoping all goes well, and feeling that anxiety creep up on you again.  It comes with the territory of being new, and being responsible for children's lives, I guess. But days like today is why this project is so important and so necessary for me to do.

But what to do? My mom suggested to cut a lemon from our tree and do a study of it. My perspective of a lemon. Simple enough, but different, and fun, and a use of different media.  Today to concept would include water color pencils, a water brush, a lemon, and a mixed media pad.

So I got started. Honestly, it took me back to a lot of things. Drawing does that for me. It reminded me of days at CSUN as an Graphics major, sitting on the high desks of the studio, listening to music on a cold day and getting lost. It was nice to be working, blending colors together. But I still felt very technical, not too challenged, and I wasn't really going with the flow, I was just copying what the lemon looked like. Which I suppose is a perspective of it, but sort of the average every day perspective of it.

There it is. My lemon. The latter picture was my favorite, I really liked the texture on the leaves, though now when I see it in the photo, I'm less than impressed.

I thought it was done. It only took like 45 minutes (disappointing, I was hoping for a project that would take all day). What else was there to do? I thought I'd add to it a little, but then thought, why? So I ate lunch, went online, checked email, tweeted, and moved on. When I started uploading the pictures and looking at how much I really didn't like it, I realized it really wasn't me. It didn't look like something I would do.

So I made some adjustments. Presenting Project Do Something 2.2

Like it says, my perspective of a lemon is a lot more lemony. They're sour, their bright, their bold, their what lemonade looks like before it's born, and this version is my perspective. The last shot is now definitely my favorite part of the picture, and I love how it looks like a piece of seaweed or some underwater plant.  The other lemon was ok, but it certainly wasn't the way I saw it.

It's still not my favorite piece, and the chances of me hanging it up or doing something significant with it is pretty slim. But it is what it is. It was me doing SOMETHING, it was project 2 and it was fun.