Have you ever gotten into the car, and driven halfway to your destination realizing that you’ve been driving in silence the whole time? Believe it or not, this happens to me quite often. Once I hit the road, I quickly lose myself in my thoughts and decompress from the day. Its like my car is this safety bubble where I can shut the world out and truly be alone with my thoughts. I think it’s true that we all have places where we do our best thinking. I find that it’s rare when I can find a period of time to let my mind wander and let my best thoughts bubble to the surface.

I often wonder why it is that this is hard to come by, and why letting my mind wander is something that I don’t even notice happening until it ends. It’s in these times, however, that some of my biggest and best thoughts rise to the surface. What I’m sharing today are my favorite places to lose myself in thought. These aren’t necessarily intentional choices, but places where I happen to find myself thinking all the good thoughts.

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 22, 2018Comment

My Morning Routine

I’ve written before about how I transformed my mornings into the most productive time of my day with one important tool: a morning routine. I’m a pretty low key person, but my morning routine is the time of my day that is nonnegotiable . In fact, my morning routine is so important, that I will wake up extra early just to fit it in.

I typically factor in an hour and half of time to prepare myself in the morning before I need to be wherever it is I’m going for the day. I’ll tack on an extra 45 minutes to an hour if I am working out, which most mornings I try to do. If I don’t get my exercise in in the morning, it proooobably won’t happen later in the day. My theory is that my mind isn't awake enough to tell me not to. Ha. Immediately following my workout, I take my dog, Murphy, for a quick walk around the block. The newest addition to my routine is brought to you by my brand new life as a married woman. In what I have been told is the true sign of moving into “adulthood,” I have to spend a large chunk of my morning watering the flower beds in my front yard. Let me tell you, I will never take a sprinkler system for granted ever again.

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 20, 2018 Comment

How to Build and Stretch a Canvas

One of the most valuable skills that I learned at TCU was how to build and stretch my own canvases. It was one of those tasks that seemed a bit burdensome at first, and I could tell many stories of my epic building failures. While I am still refining and streamlining the building process, I would consider the ability to build my own canvases one of the most impactful attributes of my artistic practice not only for the quality, but for the customization of sizes, which is great for commission work!

The first time I painted on canvas that I’d built myself immediately put all other store-bought canvases to shame. The texture is unmatched. Store-bought canvases have a rougher texture that can appear plastic-y on the finished painting, but the ones I build have the right balance of texture and smoothness, and have a beautiful matte quality. Another quirky factor that I love about hand built canvases is the bouncy-ness of the canvas. I can control how tightly I stretch the canvas, and the slight bounce in the surface contributes to the movement of the scene that I eventually paint. Store-bought canvases are much stiffer and have much less give, so that is one more quality that makes hand built canvases invaluable.

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 17, 2018Comment

Meet My Painting: 'Girl Crush'

She’s the It Girl of The Color of My Sky. She’s bright and unafraid of sharing her personality. Everyone wants to have her on their walls. Who is she? She is ‘Girl Crush.'

The first words that come to mind when I sneak a glance at this painting is, “Holy PINK!” The process of this painting was certainly a study of my favorite color. When working with such a bright and vibrant palette, I learned that a little goes a long way. If you look at the painting a little longer, you’ll see that there are ranges of blues, purples, and even some aqua colors that balance out the range of pinks and magentas. I loved exploring both the warm and cool ranges of pink, moving from a warm, salmon-y pink all the way to a cool, deep magenta. I learned that you can indeed create areas of light and shadow with the color pink, and still formulate a realistic landscape scene, despite the color scheme.

THE STUDIOElizabeth SageAugust 15, 2018Comment

My #1 Tool to Maximize My Mornings

Ask anyone who has been with me in the first hour after I wake up and they will tell you: I am NOT a morning person. From my parents, to college roommates, to my husband, they all know how it goes. Anything involving light, sound or human interaction is off limits for the first couple hours after waking up, no matter how late I've slept in.

In my college years, however, I learned that this reality had to change. My painting class was always scheduled at the same time: Monday & Wednesday, 9am - 11:50am. Three hours of morning studio time. Three hours to be productive and get the work done. At first this was difficult to adjust to. You mean I have to get my most important work done this early in the morning? I have to be my most inspired just after waking up?

I soon started to develop what is now the most important, and honestly, my most favorite part of the day: my morning routine. While the specifics of it have changed with the rhythms of life, establishing a routine helps put my mind in the right space to make the most of my morning, as well as the rest of my day.

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 13, 2018Comment

Studio Essentials: My Paints

A haircut. Wine. Oil Paints. What do all of these have in common? In my opinion, they are three things that are worth the splurge. While there are okay haircuts, decent wine, and sufficient oil paints, I’ve found when purchasing these three things that a few extra dollars produces exponentially better ends results.

Over the past couple of years, I have tested out a number of different brands & colors of paint on my palette and found some real winners that I truly cannot do without.

BRANDS: There are a few brands of oil paints have stuck with me over time, and those I can rely on for consistent color and quality. Williamsburg Oil Paints is the gold standard for me. Their paints are highly pigmented, so a little goes a long way! Because I only have to use small amounts of their paint at a time, I find that spending a little extra on some of their paints okay because I know they will last pretty long.

Holbein Artists' Oil Colors & Gamblin Artists' Oil Colors are both tied for second. They are slightly less expensive than Williamsburg, but have a solid range of colors that make a big impact on my palette.

THE STUDIOElizabeth SageAugust 10, 2018Comment

Feeling the Blues

It doesn’t matter whether you are an artist, an athlete, or anyone who has a “big event,” what comes next is universal: the post-event blues. It’s the slump in the period following a big push where you feel drained, empty, and, sometimes, a little bit desperate. You’ve just put so much energy into this one thing, and then that thing is over and done, and you’re left wondering “What’s next?” “What more could I possibly do?” “How am I going to muster up the next thing?”

If you’ve ever felt that way or had those thoughts, I’m right there with ya. It’s a feeling that I’ve experienced before, but each time it takes me by surprise. My creative tank is hovering above low, and I’ve been wandering around my studio, keeping my hands busy, but doubting my ability to create anything at all.

Since creating and launching The Color of My Sky, I’ve been a bit stuck. It’s a combination of equal parts doubt, distraction, and whatever the opposite of creativity is. It feels as if I’ve forgotten how to paint and how to think creatively.

Over the past couple of years that I’ve experienced the creative rut, I’ve always been able to lift myself out of it and get back to doing what I do best. I’ve also learned over the years how to ride it out, and rise strong from the depths.

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 8, 2018Comment

Artists I'm Loving: No. 02

Today I'm featuring some of the art & artists that inspire me. These guys are too good not to share!

Lisa Golightly :: I've known about Lisa for a while now, and have never not loved anything she does. Her work is smushy and squishy when you look at it close up, but if you take a step back, you see figures and landscapes take shape. She is fearless with her negative space, and her compositional skills are some of the best. The color-lover in me appreciates those barely-there shifts in color and monochromatic paintings (like the one in the middle, below). Her work is loose and not too fussy, which reminds me to do the same when I work on my own paintings!

THE PROCESSElizabeth SageAugust 6, 2018inspiration, artists I'm lovingComment

Who's In Charge Here?

Instincts are an interesting thing. Often they are loud and obvious and help you make the right decision in the moment. It's super convenient when that happens. Sometimes, though, an instinct can be quieter, whispering in the background. You can hear it, but sometimes think it was a mistake, or you heard wrong. But that little voice keeps whispering, and one day you turn around and hear exactly what that instinct is saying, clear as day.

I had a quiet but persistent instinct whisper in my ear throughout the course of completing The Color of My Sky collection. I felt so good about the paintings that I created. I loved getting back into the flow of my artistic process, experimenting and playing on the canvas. I was confident about each and every painting - except one. Originally titled "Endless Spring," I completed this painting pretty early on in the process of building this collection, so it had been "finished" for a couple weeks. When I made this painting, I could sense that something wasn't quite right about the piece. My instincts were telling me that this painting wasn't finished, but looking at it, I had checked all of the boxes, and it was technically done. What my instincts were saying, though, was that, yes, this painting may be done by my standards, but it wasn't really finished.

THE HEARTElizabeth SageAugust 3, 2018Comment

Meet My Painting: 'Pasture'

Each painting has a personality and a life of its own. I’m here to introduce you to one of my favorites!

‘Pasture’ gets its name from the wide open field that spreads out across The Farm. I painted this piece from a photo I took on a near perfect day. The clear blue sky was interrupted by a luscious billowing cloud that swept across the sky. It was late afternoon, and the treeline that lies beyond the edges of this image was starting to cast long dark shadows across the field.

One of the best things about The Farm is that its landscape is the constant variable in a frequently changing equation. Had I caught this scene a few hours earlier, the sun would have been high in the sky, and I wouldn’t have seen the deep, nearly-teal shadows in the distant treeline - even in the grassy green of the day, there are warm reddish-pink tones that suggest that the sun is ever so slightly fading.

THE STUDIOElizabeth SageAugust 1, 2018painting, collectionComment