Janet Balboa (#janetbalboa) is an artist, writer and teacher living in the Chicago suburbs. Read more
follow me on Instagram
In case you think I'm just lazing around...
Ousel Falls, Big Sky MT commission work.
I've been to Ousel Falls - favorite place is the stairs put in by the Parks Services...so beautiful, they look like they are naturally occurring stone. .
This is all marker and colored pencil and white paint. On marker paper. .
I was and still am, terrified of the water. Each time I sit down, I'm like, 'Oh God...how did I do this?' But as soon as I start, and get back into relationship with it, I start feeling that flow and it just kinda happens. Thankfully. .
This is easier than doing a portrait, but harder in terms of detail. Landscapes allow some latitude for interpretation, like, can you find the skull in this picture? (For realzies 😁💀)While portraits have to be more or less spot on, not much room for error. They have to look like someone right? Ideally anyway.
.
I love up close work. And I love markers for their brightness and colored pencil for it's waxy, smeary layering. Marker paper is awesome. It's like plastic, so never any paper roughing and the surface is smoooooooooth, so the pencils get a beautiful wax build up after 3 layers. Yummy
.
A little poetry graphic Tuesday!
I love creating these things. Like an addiction. Words and pictures, playing around with expression. .
#amitgoswaminobrasil #janetbalboa #risingtidesociety #kylecease
NOTES FROM THE PARKING LOT *UPDATE*
so here's a glimpse of what goes on in my head, and why I've been told by my friend JenZen never to play around in there alone...😛
This is either a picture or a blog entry in the making. This is the very beginning, for me, of the muse starting to tug on my sleeve. Captured here between you and me for a moment-
I think this is why I work with symbols and mythological themes; it's kind of a short hand of pre-made meaning. An archetype. So the meaning is there, disguised to consciousness, but so goddam nourishing to Soul. It's message unfolds beyond space and time, across centuries, genders, races and minds. (Anyway, I use a lot of embeded stories.)
More of myth? Check out Joseph Campbell.
And....class starts in 10 min. Ciao♥️
Happy Thursday!
Did I tell you I love love love being (an artist)?
Coming into my stride at 55, never envisioning the path my life would take or the adventure it has become.
Grateful for all my teachers disguised as students, friends, family, situations, events...
Be expectant, open, to what calls you and what moves you. External goals are never as fulfilling as internal questions, some of which may never be answered. And that's ok. Living with mystery is living.
Take the risk. Take the path less traveled. Discover what makes your heart sing. You, face to face with the incredible variety and richness that is YOU. And me. The world. This incredible, relentless, perennial beauty that is always just around the corner, just out of sight...just under the surface, waiting to be seen valued and witnessed. It's shy, hesitant.
Cultivating a relationship with yourself takes care and attention. There will never be, has never been, another you. Everyone you meet, everyone, is a one in 7.7 billion... What if you are exactly who you are supposed to be? What if you were deliciously content? What if 7.7 billion of us were content in who we are? Heaven on Earth?
Black Bear Montana!🐻 Breaking down my process:
Pencil outlines, markers for base, colored pencil for final details. Postcard size, for a corner of the 'Ousel Falls' waterfall picture.
#janetbalboa
#montanalife #ouselfallsart
#ouselfallstrail #bigskymontana
#bigskyartists
Sophia.
Starting with my sketch, adding pencil and markers...and here she is. Card 1 in my Ho'oponopono Intuition Deck.
Black Bear. .
Prismacolor markers and pencil: 4 x 6.
Corner piece for the drawing of Ousel Falls I'm working on. To see more of my work, the links in my bio❤️ .
#ouselfalls #ouselfallsbigsky #ouselfallsmontana #wip #prismacolor markers #prismacolorpencils #ouselfallsartwork #ouselfallsart #janetbalboa #montanaart #waterfallart #bigskymontana #montana #blackbear #blackbearart #illinoisartist
Black Bear in progress!
Second corner in Ousel Falls drawing.
Prismacolor markers and pencils. Marker paper. 3" x 4". Don't feed the bears... .
#art #artist #artistoninstagram #ouselfalls #ouselfallsbigsky #ouselfallsmontana #wip #prismacolor markers #prismacolorpencils #ouselfallsartwork #ouselfallsart #janetbalboa #montanaart #waterfallart #bigskymontana #montana #blackbear #blackbearart #montanalife #bigskyresort #bigskylife #
