Tag: Stephanie Konu

5 Ways to Refashion Old Clothes on a Budget

The Pandemic has really opened my eyes to how many clothing items I have amassed over the years. As a Canadian, I have sweaters for every occasion, and enough socks to last me a month before needing to do laundry.

One of my pass times from my life before pursuing my passions was shopping. I am not alone in this, as many women would agree. When the Pandemic began to spread and lock-downs became the norm, I realized that many of my outfits could easily be refreshed and given a new look by making simple changes (without needing to be an experienced seamstress).

Here are my…

5 Ways to Refashion Old Clothes on a Budget

woman in white crop top and white booty short
Photo by TUBARONES PHOTOGRAPHY on Pexels.com

Add designs to your clothing using fabric paint.

Fabric paint is easily obtainable at a craft or fabric store. Using a paint brush, you can personalize your clothing as much or as little as you want. If you are very talented, why not paint versions of your favourite designer logos to impress your friends?

Add elastic for a better fit.

Ill-fitting clothes can occur at different stages in our lives. If you have recently lost weight (congratulations by the way!) and your clothes seem a bit loose in undesirable ways, you can add elastic to help obtain a better fit. This method works well with waist bands, and sleeves.

Add ruffles, lace, and zippers.

Do you have a basic black dress that could use a bit of an update? Fabric stores have many varieties of notions that you can purchase by the meter or centimeter (metric). Sometimes a little ruffle on a hemline or some lace across a neckline can add value to a basic-looking item of clothing. The best part about this idea is that you may not even need to sew anything- fabric glue works great!

Sew a design.

Perhaps you are better acquainted with a needle and thread than others, and you have some experience in needlepoint. If so, many denim items are made beautiful by adding a patchwork design, or some simple needlepoint design. Brands like Levi’s already offer services where you can pay extra to have a design sewn onto your new pair of jeans, so this idea is very trendy right now for 2020.

Remove sleeves or shorten pants.

I have done this many times when it comes to summer clothing for myself and for my daughter. When warm weather hits, sometimes there is no better option than to take a pair of scissors to an old pair of pants or an old blouse to turn them into shorts and a t-shirt.

If you are careful to cut along seams when removing sleeves, the difference is usually impossible to tell! The downside with this idea, is that if you cut the sleeves off of a favourite top, or shorten a pair of pants that you hope to wear again in the winter, you might not be able to re-attach those lost appendages.

Do you have ideas for how to refashion old clothing? Have you needed to think outside of the box when it comes items that have been unavailable due to the worldwide Pandemic? Leave your comments in the section below, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

5 Ways to Train Your Mind for Imaginative Design

When you begin to pursue your passions, you may find it difficult to keep thinking of new ideas. You may have aspirations for where you want to end up, but lack strategies for how to build your practice day by day to get that end result.

Remember that the new life you are pursuing will take work. Each day will present new challenges, but it is up to you to push through and continue to work on your passions.

Ocean Spray by Stephanie Konu Blue ocean abstract painting with a reflective gold sun
Ocean Spray by Stephanie Konu

Here are my…

5 ways to Train Your Mind for Imaginative Design and Practices, and to Improve your Skills in your Artistic Practice

Use an inexpensive medium for your sketches and ideas.

My favourite medium for my ideas is to use a very sharp #2 pencil. I find it enjoyable to write down my ideas in a “stream of consciousness” with a pencil (as opposed to using ink).

I will take my pencil and my notepad to a quiet place, and simply write what I am thinking about. It is important to do this without putting too much judgement on yourself. Be open and honest when performing this exercise. When I make errors, or go off track, I can easily erase the pencil mark without much fuss. However, I rarely erase my ideas once they come out of my thoughts.

Read something new every day.

Depending on what you set your goal at, (say 500-1000 words), you can reach this first thing in the morning by checking a news website, or scholarly article. When you set a commitment to read every day, you will surprise yourself by how many new thoughts will emerge into your conscious and subconscious mind.

Say hello and be friendly!

When you are about to leave your house and enter the public sphere, ready yourself by bringing your mood level up and putting a smile on your face. You will be more approachable and it will be easier to obtain the services that you want.

When things go your way, you will feel like accomplishing more things which will in turn help you imagine more positive outcomes. Positive outcomes are the life blood of creativity and imagination, so it is important to see the connection between your outlook and what you hope to achieve in your artistic pursuits.

Focus your mind, then rest your mind.

Depending on what you hope to improve in your skills, it is helpful to focus your mind on related concepts by looking at photos, videos, and reading books. After you have absorbed related media, give your mind a rest. In rest, your mind will organize what you just learned and ideas will begin to flow when you return your mind to those concepts later on.

The rest period is one that many people often overlook because sleeping is an activity that seems to be in decline; however resting your mind can take the form of meditation, sitting quietly for a few minutes without being on your phone, or just going out and watching people in public for a little while.

Exercise and eat healthy!

There is nothing better for your body than to take good care of it. If you want your mind to run a marathon, you had better train it and fuel it properly. Don’t skimp out on the nutrients!

 

Imagination is not an easy thing to train yourself to develop, but it is possible. It will take time, but the pay off you will gain from conceptualizing unique and novel ideas will be immensely beneficial to the pursuit of your passions, and in furthering your artistic practice.

Do you agree with my list? Leave comments in the section below, and as always thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

3 Benefits to Experimenting with your Artistic Practice

You finally started pursuing your passions. You took the first steps and have plunged into the depths of what is unknown. Now you are free to explore the things you have been only dreaming about up until now.

What really sparks an interest in you is the idea of taking your chosen mediums, and experimenting to find new ways of doing things.

Here are my…

3 Benefits to Experimenting with Your Artistic Practice

  1. You discover things you never connected in your mind before.
    Have you ever wondered what happens when you add more water to “this”, or take a piece of sand paper to “that”? Your discovery could open your mind to new possibilities. The same tools that are available to you can have new uses (for new techniques). The tools have not changed. You have.
  2. You exercise the part of the brain that allows you to visualize new things.
    A person can train their mind to see solutions to problems by changing their mindset to a positive one. When you focus on positivity, you are telling your mind to pay close attention to methods of improvement. This principle can be extended to teaching your mind when experimenting in your artistic practice.

    Visualization is a skill that can be acquired from thinking of ways to innovate and make life better for yourself. By experimenting with new mediums and with technology, you will be able to visualize the preferred reality to problems that currently exist.

  3. You may gain new attention, followers, and new fans of your experimented work.
    People who are familiar with your work will be impressed by your courage to try something new. People who are not familiar with your work may really like your new style, and gain an interest in your work because of it. At the end of the day, your ability to take risks (albeit calculated risks) as an artist will pay off in some way.

Life is an experience that is made up of smaller momentary experiences. Trying new things and challenging yourself to be better than the person you were yesterday is the goal. Pursuing the things that you are passionate about is the best way to accomplish excelling beyond your past self.

Do you agree with my list? Please leave comments in the section below and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

How to tell the difference between cheerleaders and cheerloafters

We all have people in our lives that propel our mindset to positive heights.

Sometimes it is the offering of helpful advice, a pat on the back for an accomplishment, or even a simple smile with a “thumbs up” to encourage you to keep going. I have people like this in my life, and as a result I always try to be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud. I consider myself to be a cheerleader in the non-traditional sense. I may not have the outfit and pom-poms, but my spirit is one who sees immense value in those around me, and I thrive when I can help bring out the potential in others.

Are you having difficulty figuring out who the cheerleaders are in your life? Take a look at my list to help you understand the difference between the cheerleaders, and the cheerloafters in your life…

 

 

Cheerleaders will…

  • Ask you questions about your passion projects.
    They ask because they want to stay up to date on your work; and they will ask without YOU having to bring up the topic.
  • Will offer to buy or to display your projects.
    They help you promote your passions to the world without asking for anything in return.
  • Will tell others about your accomplishments.
    Cheerleaders always have your name on their lips because they enjoy telling their friends about how great you are. These people always recommend you as well.
  • Will offer you advice, or materials for your upcoming work.
    Cheerleaders are often thinking about how to help you try new things and deepen your exploration of the pursuit of your passions.
  • Will attend your shows or exhibitions.
    Cheerleaders always show up in person. They recognize the importance of being present at your achievements.
  • Will say positive things to encourage you.
    Cheerleaders believe in you, so their words will reflect the same.

 

Cheerloafters will do the opposite of everything listed above and…

  • Will never ask about your passion projects, unless you bring up the topic.
  • Will make jokes about the people who like your work, or about your projects. They will accomplish this by comparing your passion to things and people that have little value to them.
  • Will call you stupid or generally imply that you are foolish for pursuing your passion. This can happen covertly, or in a blunt manner. It will usually occur when many people are around so that they can say it was just “a joke”.
  • Will ask you to betray trade secrets or guarded techniques in a clandestine way. They will accomplish this by asking you how you did something in a passive way, as if they don’t care. Meanwhile, they will take the information you provided to make their own version, or simply tell others as if it was their own idea.
  • Will ask you this dreaded question: “How much money do you expect to make by doing this?” This question is usually unfair for two reasons:
    • The people who ask this question are rarely responsible for your finances or your survival. It makes no difference to them how much money your passion will make.
    • Placing a financial value on something you have only just begun to explore will weigh heavily on you. It may even make you feel guilty and want to stop pursuing your passion because you begin to call into question the validity of doing something you love that has an unqualified financial validity.

Do you know anyone in your life that falls into the category of a cheerleader or a cheerloafter? What are your examples of people who have helped you find success in your pursuit of you passions? Leave comments below, and thanks for stopping by.Stephanie

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com
by @Lillybochic

4 Quick Tips to Motivate You to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals

If you are like me, the fun of summer weather can be a distraction from wanting to work towards your goals. Finding your motivation is nearly impossible when sobering up after a long weekend of fun in the sun.

Those long weeks of working on your passion projects must not go to waste! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the light occurs when you finish your project!

Here are my…

4 Quick Tips to Motivate You to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals

  • Remove acquaintances who don’t build you up or add to you life. This includes takers, users, and enemies disguised as friends.
  • Learn how to recognize good ideas from bad ones and save your time.
  • Plan rewards for yourself to motivate your actions.
  • Tell loved ones about important milestones reached- make sure the people you share with are cheerleaders, and not just lumps of coal.

 

What are ways that you stay motivated to reach your goals? Leave comments below and thanks for stopping by.

 

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

8 Ways to Keep Ideas Fresh and to Keep Creating

Taking the first step to living the life that you want, and pursuing your passions is monumental. The decision is one that asks of you: “Can you sustain these changes? Will you give up and go back to your old way of living?”

These are questions that can keep you awake at night. For me, the best way to get past those moments is to focus on day-to-day tasks. Focusing on keeping the creative juices flowing is what shifts my focus to things that are within my locus of control.

Here are my ideas for how to keep your fresh ideas flowing, so that you can further the continuation of your passion projects:

8 Ways to Keep Ideas Fresh and to Keep Creating

  1. Reproduce an old project in a “look how far I’ve come” retrospective work. As an artist you can showcase how well you have improved in your artwork with an update of something completed earlier on in your career. By incorporating your new techniques, you will surprise yourself.
  2. Re-post new angles of existing work. The fresh idea is in the perspective provided by taking new photos. Utilizing new media and technology can also help to refresh existing work.
  3. Try a new setting for characters in your writing, painting, or illustration. Circumstance change when settings change.
  4. Listen to inspirational speakers on Youtube. My recommendations for speakers to watch video of would be: Maya Angelou, or Simon Sinek. Your mind starts collecting new ideas and mixing it with your existing thoughts immediately. Your creativity gets boosted when you expose your mind to new concepts.
  5. Read something!
  6. Watch a documentary.
  7. Follow a person on social media who has views that are the opposite of your own. Read a few posts. If you feel annoyed or angry, then concentrate (with that fire burning) and get those fresh ideas written down!
  8. Go outside and rest your mind by trying a new activity. A new flavor of ice cream is my suggestion!

What are ways that you keep ideas fresh when you feel overwhelmed? Leave you comments below, and thank you for stopping by.

Stephanie

by @Lillybochic

Stephanie’s Art Roll Call

I recently shot this video to feature the beautiful way my recent artwork carries on from one piece to another.

On a gorgeously sunny day I staged my artwork in the sunlight, and kept them organized by size/ style.

By arranging them in this style, the consistent use of a golden sun is highly prominent. One can also easily see the iridescent quality of each work, as they are very reflective in the sunlight.

The colours just pop! It’s hard to believe that there are no filters, or after effects on this video- this is raw footage of my work in direct sunlight- radiating positive vibes into the universe!

I think that a series of prints featuring all of these images would do well- and I will happily make these available if asked. I hope that my message of positivity is conveyed as an overall theme when this video is viewed, and that it brightened your day/ week as well.

Thank you for stopping by,

S

by @Lillybochic

Blue, Gold, and Turquoise Acrylic Art

My latest work is a 24 x 24 inch gallery wrapped canvas with beautiful colors.

Entitled “Bliss”, this work was completed in 2020 by myself using acrylic pouring techniques.

As usual, my artwork encompasses an experimentational aspect- with the mixture of water into acrylic paint, it is never fully certain what the end result of a painting will be.

Starting with a brilliant blue background, I layered variations of blue and turquoise on top of one another to build a deep field upon which to place the iridescent full turquoise colour.

Where turquoise is layered underneath the gold field, a head-like figure emerges at the top of the image. The figurative head is facing west, and looking toward the direction that the sun is emerging from.

The gold fields of this work are so dramatic, and bring immense warmth to the feeling of this piece. In sunlight, as seen in the photos above, the reflective surfaces are magnetic, and draw the observer into the piece.

The splashes of gold add drama to the lower left area of the image. It is evident here that the deep gold field was poured against the brilliant blue background .

I would be immensely pleased to recreate this artwork on a very large canvas. Larger artwork always allows the details and nuances of my work to be displayed easier. I would happily make prints available for this piece in the future if asked.

I love the positive and exciting feeling this emitted from “Bliss”- it truly is blissful to spend time appreciating it. 

Thank you for stopping by,

S

by @Lillybochic

Blue and Gold Abstract Acrylic

Happy Black History month!

My latest acrylic on canvas abstract work has two parts. I used the same palate for both pieces: blues of varying shades, gold, and green lurking in the background.

wp-1579452599473.jpg

I have been dedicating myself to larger sizes of canvas of late. I still prefer square dimensions, but I have realized that the size of my work translates better on large settings. Large sizes also allow for more experimentation.

I named these pieces “Summer’s Day” and “Summer’s Night” to further signify their companion status to each other. Each piece is 23 x 23 inches in size.

wp-1579452599496.jpg

I think that on their own, each looks quite striking; metallic gold fields are eye catching when executed in this way. The above piece (Summer’s Night) features translucent fields that pop out of the turbulent background like ghosts. I paint fastidiously to create layers of colour over my canvas, and in my mind this creates a depth of experience. There are times that an entire scene is covered up, revealing only a fragment of what once showed prominently. Because I created what existed before and chose to cover it, I get to be the only person who knows what lies beneath. Another deep inner thought about the creative process, I suppose.

wp-1579452599507.jpg

The above piece (Summer’s Day) was created earlier than Summer’s Night. My inspiration for this piece was the work of Joan Miro. I love how lighter fields dance over darker backgrounds that form part of earlier layers. Again, here I am able to hold the secret of what existed before and I love it. My weirdness is ever evolving when it comes to my artistic practice.

If I could paint all day…

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my corner of the world. Check back soon to visit my blog archives, and to see what I’ve been up to.

 

-S

by @Lillybochic

Creating a portrait from a digital illustration

My latest painting is a portrait of my brother, sister in law, and their pet cat. I used an old photo of the lovely couple from New Years Eve a few years ago. The original photo shows my sister in law wearing a cardboard NYE hat, but I omitted this from the sketch so that the final result would appear more formal.

The first stage of my process…

The foundation of every good portrait begins with line work. I always sketch my work digitally, then transfer the basic outline to my canvas. Details that are important to defining traits of the subject (i.e. the small patch of white hair on Armani the cat’s chest) must be captured. With line work, it is important to remember that the essence of the form should be captured first, followed by finer details. The profile of the subject (the head shape, neck, and body) is important to be captured accurately. When doing line work, I always endeavour to avoid getting too caught up with facial details (dimples, beauty marks, and aging lines).

With line work, it is important to remember that the essence of the form should be captured first, followed by finer details. The profile of the subject (the head shape, neck, and body) is important to be captured accurately. When doing line work, I always endeavour to avoid getting too caught up with facial details (dimples, beauty marks, and aging lines).


The second stage of my process…

Once the outline is captured, colours are layered on the canvas. I always use a watered-down paint mixture to “wash” the early layers of each colour in. By using a wash technique, the colours are able to be “built” upon. “Building up” layers of colour allows for a much smoother end result. Notice the magenta colour of my sister-in-law’s shirt: I made a mistake here and did not water down the first few layers of the magenta colour. Because of this error, one can quite visibly see that there are uneven applications of colour. You can also see very distracting brush strokes…(I am so disappointed by that!).

I think that having brush strokes visible makes the piece look amateur-like. As I improve my technique, I really want to work on this. I think that I get overly excited when starting and finishing a piece; and I skip important steps. I seem to mainly have this problem with my portrait work though.

The third stage of my process…

This stage is where final details are completed. My heart and mind race during this stage. It is the part of the process where everything comes together, and if it fails to execute, the long hours of work put in may have been wasted.

My artistic style includes basic shading and highlights as my skill improves. I am working on making faces appear more life-like. The final painting is shown below in detail. My brother was impressed by the work, and I presented it to him for Christmas.

2019 has been a year filled with surprises. For the past several months I have consistently posted new blog entries on a weekly basis. My desire was to see where I could take my blog with consistent and measured attention. As I have grown as an entrepreneur, so have my goals. I am beginning to become involved in more diverse projects that require time and dedication- some of which I will need to borrow from the anieksteph blog. As a result, instead of weekly posts the anieksteph blog will become a monthly blog, and will focus on rewriting and curating existing content.

Our landing page will likely change to a static front page with information on how to contact me, and links to the current areas of the site. The blog posts will still remain- so do not worry about where to find your favourite posts.

Thank you for stopping by. If you are interested in reading more about my upcoming projects visit my Instagram page, or my new Facebook page at Art by Konu.

Happy New Year!

-S

by @Lillybochic