Hey guys!
Welcome to my studio!
Today we have such a fun project planned and I can't wait to dive into it with you.
At the end of this video,
I'm going to upload it into my art gallery online and this brings me into some exciting news,
because I actually use Wix for my website.
That allows me to like put together my art gallery, put my store and all the fun stuff in one place.
Well, something exciting happened and Wix is actually sponsoring today's video. Whoo!
I really love working with companies that I have been using for years.
So, this is really amazing to be able to do this.
Before we start the video, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Wix.
Wix has professional solutions for every need.
If you need a website for personal use, maybe you're building a portfolio,
or maybe you're a business and you want to construct an event or showcase your music or
your photography on a website. This is definitely for you.
I'm a small artist and I link my shop, my portfolio, my contact information,
everything, all in one place and Wix handles all the big stuff.
For instance, keeping my website safe and giving me a custom domain.
Everything is drag-and-drop. You don't need to know tons of HTML which provides you with an Infinite amount of
creative opportunity with these drag-and-drop options, so you have so much creative freedom
It doesn't matter id you're a professional website builder,
or if you're somebody like me who is not technologically advanced.
It is very intuitive to use. I'm gonna show you my website real quick.
Just you can get a taste for what I'm talking about.
Here is the Wix website which gives you information on what you can do if you decide to build a website.
Which by the way you can go to www.wix.com/go/mirabyler
to get started.
A lot of it showcases things that I just said, but if you're curious you can head on over to this page.
Let's hop on over to my website. This is what it looks like.
Here is my About section.
Which, just lets people who come by my page learn a little bit about me as an artist and a person.
Here is my gallery. I'm gonna update this with you in a couple of seconds and you can see how easy that is.
Here's my Etsy shop, which it's really nice that I can plug this right into my website.
Everything is all in one place and businesses can contact me here, too.
Alright, let's add some pictures to my gallery because it needs updating.
I'm gonna select a couple files on my computer of recent paintings
that I have done and then we will arrange them into my gallery.
It's pretty fast to load everything, then you just drag and drop to
pick what order you want to display your images.
I want everything to be at the top because it's new and boom. There it is.
I'm gonna publish it and it's already updated.
What's nice about the gallery is you can click on any image and it will bring it up on your full screen.
You can see every little detail.
I really like that feature. [Laughs]
By the way, if you're an artist, I would definitely recommend that you have a website showcasing your portfolio.
Anyway, let's hop into this and then we'll do some artwork.
I just cleaned in my studio I am so excited to paint with you guys today
because we are painting on wood, I'm so excited!
I already gesso'd the front of it with three layers of gesso and then I sanded in between each layer.
It is smooth. It is ready for us to come at it and we're gonna do something fun.
I have two ideas that I am debating between right now and I kind of messed around in my sketchbook.
Okay, let's just get started.
As I said we are painting on wood today, and I gesso'd this piece of wood.
It's actually a wooden canvas.
I gesso'd it three times and sanded in between each layer.
because I wanted to play around with a very smooth surface.
I decided to work my background first and just keep layering that
It looks like I'm about to just paint a coffee mug, but do not let that fool you.
There is a lot more to this. I'll give you a hint from the beginning, but this is a creatures of piece painting.
I'm still working on that series and I have spring fever.
Just imagine what's gonna happen with a coffee mug, spring fever and the creatures of piece series.
Okay, so here it looks like I am painting, it could be coffee,
it could be black tea or perhaps hot chocolate in that mug.
Is it any of those things or am I playing you?
Oh, no, is this whipped cream or am I still playing you? Oh, oh, oh OH!
We have a creature, we have a creature!
Alrighty, the secrets out. This is our newest creature and you can't quite tell what he is yet.
This creature is supposed to resemble whipped cream at first glance,
a little puff of it floating on the mug.
As time goes on...
You notice that the mug morphs into...
hmmm, some sort of speckled liquid perhaps?
Solid?
Speckled solid. Alright, what is this?
Well, it's actually dirt, dirt in a mug.
Alright, it's about to get crazy here. We have this blank background here,
everything just seems kind of...
solid and lonely out there.
This creature found a mug and he made the best of it and planted a bunch of seeds.
What happened was, this creature was full of love.
He loved plants and he wanted everybody else to have the joy of plants that he did
He genetically modified this plant here and he made it up himself.
Basically, the way he made it was he poured his own heart into the plant.
So, every year this plant grows little heart fruits and when people eat them, they're filled with love.
He likes to wait for people to come and visit his mug,
or even other creatures and he gives out these heart fruits, or
love fruits and they can either eat them and be filled with love and feel better about life.
or they can take those little fruits and dry them out and plant seeds of love of their own,
let love spread into the world. That is what this creature is all about.
Just spreading all that love and happiness every where.
He just kind of sits and relaxes in the midst of all of it.
So peaceful just so ready to give love out and that is why I really love this painting.
In today's world, it is very easy to just get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
We have work, we have school. We have exams to study for, family to balance.
There's a lot of things and sometimes it can be overwhelming.
Overwhelming enough to blind us of those little moments that love can be exchanged in even the smallest of ways
For instance,
complimenting somebody, or
smiling at a stranger on the sidewalk. All those little things really add up and change somebody's day.
So this creature here may not be able to speak our language,
but he's doing the best he can by spreading these seeds and fruits of love.
I just kind of hope that that warms your heart, especially at this time of year,
when spring is about to be here and we are so eager to experience the blooming of plants.
Well, unless you live in the tropics and you get to experience this all year,
then us northern people are a little jealous of you, perhaps?
I just think that there's a lot of beauty in plants that, when they bloom it reminds us of those warm feelings.
If you have a really busy week or perhaps you're feeling a little under the weather
because it's been snowing a lot, or maybe you just have a lot of stress.
I'm going to challenge you to look at all those little things and capture those
miniscule moments that just bring you little glimmers of joy and what are those things?
What are those things that make you feel loved and keep you holding on?
For me, it is definitely plants and I love just making eye contact with strangers and smiling at them.
I think it's very meaningful for both me and them but maybe I just overthink it.
I'm not sure but it's something that I really really enjoy.
I am also an - acts of kindness -
kind of person. So, if people do those things for me, it really makes my day.
I think that's why I like to do that for strangers.
At the beginning of this painting I emphasize that there was pretty much nothing outside of this mug
and this creature waited on others to come and take love.
Over time you can see that there's a lot of plants growing toward this mug as well.
That symbolizes that if you give out love, it's a lot easier to realize that you're receiving it too.
This creature gave out so much love, so abundantly and now he's receiving love
in so many angles of his life.
I just wanted to share this really fun painting with you. My creatures of piece paintings are super symbolic.
I really, really love pouring my heart into them and creating a lot of deep meaning.
So, here's the finished piece.
Let's add it to my art gallery online and then we can call it a day. Oh my goodness!
I just want to put it in my pocket.
Okay, it's in my gallery now. So go take a look at my website and feel free to explore Wix if you want!
Thanks so much for watching and have a wonderful day everybody. Bye!