Images
Just a Comic…About Being Introverted…Because I’m Introverted
So often in my head I can think of funny ways to express my thoughts and feelings, but most of the time I don’t actually draw them out. A couple of years ago I actually did draw out my feelings and this is what it turned into. I kept it in my sketchbook until now. It’s a rough draft (you can see the evolution of how I drew my boombox), but knowing how I tend to not think much of what I create is “ready” or “good enough” to be shared, I just wanted to not overthink things and just share.
As always, all images are protected by copyright law and belong entirely to the artist, me, Meghan Campbell. All images must not be altered or sold in any manner, and if shared, please provide attributes to the artist. Thank you!
Also, all words and images are not to be read or copied by Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) or be fed to A.I. for training. This blog post is not approved for A.I. consumption.
Make This a Happy New Year for Your Dog!
As a person who believes that people can make positive changes to their lives at any moment any time of the year, I usually don’t make resolutions when the new year starts. This year, however, I feel for me personally that this new decade is the start of a new positive era for my life, and I include my animal family in that era. In response to this mindset that better things are in my future, I plan to make this decade even better than the last for my and my sister’s dog! Today I started a list of things I want to do fill our dog’s life with more games, mental enrichment, and even more exercise in different environments (i.e. more hiking!).
The last over 7 months of creating and teaching my online drawing class through Outschool has kept me very busy. Teaching with Outschool has been a huge positive and life changing experience that I plan to keep going for a long time. However, just like with other kinds of new businesses or entrepreneurial pursuits, the work can easily overtake a person’s schedule if an intentional effort is not made to try to have more of a balance with work and non-work aspects of life.
Thankfully, I have implemented changes to make my drawing-lesson-creation process more efficient, and have done the same in other work related processes, and now have more time again to work on being the best doggy companion and caretaker I can be! In fact, just a little while ago this evening I played our Find It game with my and my sister’s dog, which is one of her favorite indoor games!
I have also added some positive-focused dog training videos to my still short but growing list of educational YouTube videos. Regularly searching for more knowledge and resources about how to have a positive and meaningful relationship with your animal companion can lead to learning about something as simple as new kinds of dog mental enrichment items that are now available that a person (i.e. me) had no idea even existed! This mindset of continual learning is something I would recommend for any person sharing life with an animal companion.
And now I come to this blog post’s dedication.
This post is dedicated to Adam, a small and cute Chihuahua mix dog who is available for adoption through Animal Rescue of the Rockies! Please take a look at Adam’s info page for yourself or spread the word to others so he can find a forever home full of love and joy and cuddles!
Adam’s info page: http://animalrescueoftherockies.org/dogs/#action_0=pet&animalID_0=14419244&petIndex_0=0
Volunteering for Animal Rescue of the Rockies!
Recently I became a volunteer for Animal Rescue of the Rockies, an animal rescue organization that works with other shelters to place as many animals as possible in loving foster homes so they don’t have to wait in crowded environments. Foster homes also provide these animals with chances to improve and maintain their ability to have positive interactions with humans, which increases their chances of being adopted in what will truly be their homes forever. My volunteer role right now is creating blog posts that highlight ARR animals and events to help get more animals adopted into those loving and happy homes!
The sketch above is of Kady and Honeybell, two orange sisters who are hanging out with their foster family as they wait to be adopted together. Honeybell has one ear that is somewhat different from the other, which was either something she was born with or was perhaps caused by an injury. I think Kady and Honeybell look like they are in such a harmonious and relaxed state in their picture, hopefully waiting patiently only a little while longer for the new family who want to share their forever love and home with them.
To learn more about Kady and Honeybell, visit the home page of Animal Rescue of the Rockies!
I’m Teaching Drawing Classes for Kids on Outschool!
I recently became a teacher on Outschool, a platform for live online classes for kids K-12. Classes are held year-round and can be used as the main source of an entire subject for home school curricula, as well as serve as supplemental classes for learners attending public or private schools. Some teachers even have summer camps and hold a regular class meeting every day for a week. Once I became an established teacher, I think I might create a summer class either this year or next year.
For my first class, I am teaching “Learn To Draw Baby Animals From Around The World!” with graphite and colored pencil. This ongoing class is geared for intermediate to beginner students who have some experience with drawing, and for ages around 8-13. My first live class will be held Tuesday, July 23rd at 9:00am Mountain Standard Time, and runs for 65 minutes. The link to the actual class, where you can get a lot more specific and detailed information, can be found below. During this first meeting time, we will draw a fledgling robin, and the following meeting we will draw a young sloth!
The process of creating my first class, which was part of the application process, took me more than a couple of weeks. I had to find time to work on my class bit by bit in between my work as a caregiver for a family member and home schooling my youngest sibling, and I wanted to make sure I had a curriculum that I could easily follow after I did the initial work and research on it. Even though I do not like standardized classes and tests, I do like to have a little structure when I’m teaching as I know from experience that this makes everything go more smoothly.
As a new teacher, I can list 5 different classes until I have at least 2 positive reviews from parents, and then I can list as many classes as I want. Thankfully I seem to be full of ideas about different classes I want to teach, and have at about 5 different ideas already.
There are so many reasons why I want to become a successful teacher through Outschool, not the least of which is because I would get to draw and color for my job! And since with this first class I am including a short fact list about each animal we are drawing, I would get to educate children about animals while we have fun drawing them!
Art Supplies for Car DIY!
My DIY project last weekend was fixing my car’s trim. My beloved car, which I’ve had since the summer before college, has black trim that has over the years flaked away, exposing the silver colored metal base, especially on the driver’s side. My particular model is not in production any more, so finding replacement parts can be challenging and sometimes expensive. For the last few years I tried putting black tape on top of the exposed metal trim, which worked well until the temperature got above around 65 degrees or so, at which point the glue of the tape would pretty much melt. If I drove above 45 MPH during these temperatures, the tape would start to peel off and flap against my car! Until I was able to find a place to park and peel off the flapping section, I had to roll down my window, pull in the end of the tape, and roll up the window to keep the end in place and stop it from flapping.
This winter there were a few times when the temperature got high enough where this happened multiple times, and I finally decided I had enough of the whole tape applying and reapplying that I researched replacement trim on the internet. After some searching, it looked like two replacement trims would cost around at least $60. If it would be a more permanent fix, I was willing to pay, but my frugal, DIY mind knew there had to be one last thing that I could do to fix my problem in a more inexpensive way. I can’t remember why or how I came up with the idea, but I went to my art supplies store to buy black, non-toxic and water-based, outdoor paint and a paint sponge with the intent to literally paint my car’s trim. I wasn’t sure how well the paint would adhere to the metal surface and how long it would last, but I had to try. 
First, I painted just a few smaller sections of exposed trim a couple of months ago. The paint was still there as of last weekend, so I took advantage of the nicely warming weather, peeled off the remaining tape, and painted the entire driver’s side trim. I dabbed the paint on rather than using stroking motions, which helped with coverage. Also, the paint dried fast in the sun, so I was able to do two coats in the spots that needed it. The whole process only took about 30 minutes, and I was very pleased with the results! I can’t remember the exact price of both the paint and the sponge brush, but it was definitely less than $10. My frugal, do-it-yourself brain was very satisfied! My beloved car got a makeover and is good to go for another 18 years! (Hey, it’s possible!)
Daily Art Practice, Whale Shark, Gouache
This whale shark I painted is for another birthday card. I’ve loved whale sharks since I was a kid, but this is the first time I have painted one. It was easier to draw and paint than dolphins, which for me have such specific proportions that must be correct in order for them to actually look like dolphins (I had to practice a lot so that my dolphins did not look like weird bird heads popping out of the water). While painting the whale shark, I really enjoyed the smooth and almost calming curves. The white dots were just plain fun. Yay, whale sharks!
Inspiration source: Pinterest pin photo for Crystal Dive Koh Tao Diving saved to Open Water Scuba Diving Course
Daily Art Practice, Delphinium Gouache
Spring is the time of many birthdays within the circle of my family and friends, thus I have had plenty of opportunity the last month for keeping up with my painting while creating unique birthday cards for everyone. It was eye opening for me when I recently realized I have been creating home made birthday cards for friends and family since my younger teenage days. Not only is this a practical way for me to practice painting skills, it also shows me the sweetness of my friends and family who have told me they keep these cards and look forward to what kind I will come up with next. Even when I know I could have done better on a certain card and it’s not perfect (there are some flowers species I have never painted until the last few cards), I know my unique attempt will be appreciated.
In the last few weeks I have also experienced some revelations about myself that have provided validation for my decisions as to what field in which I’ve chosen to focus my career. Pretty much most of my life I have loved both science and art, yet I had a really difficult time trying to incorporate both into my life at the same time in ways that were meaningful to me. I absolutely loved my biology major in college and do not regret earning that bachelor’s degree for a second, and I even tried working as an instructor for an elementary after-school science program (which for various reasons ended up being one of the top worst jobs I’ve ever had), but now I am definitely creating foundations for a career focused on art and writing. About two weeks ago I was listening to a science-focused podcast while working on some initial sketches for a friend’s son’s birthday card (dinosaurs!), and I was enjoying myself immensely. I then thought of a recent conversation I had with some members of my family in which we talked about the different kinds of science labs we did or did not like in school. I loved working with electricity (Nikola Tesla, yo!), but really do not enjoy working with chemicals at all. I guess, if I had to choose, I would prefer a physics lab over a chemistry lab. But, as I later sketched and listened to fellow science nerds talk about the latest discoveries, I discovered something about myself – I love to learn about science, but I love to do art!
Now don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy my weekly self-imposed grammar and writing lessons that I complete through various online classes and books so I can ensure I am the best writing tutor I can be, but when it comes to what I choose to listen to when I am completing a household chore or when painting, science-related podcasts and news updates are what bring my mind to its happy place. I’ve tried listening to various grammar and writing podcasts, but my mind starts to wander pretty quickly. Alternately, the few times I’ve tried to work on an elementary science lab assignment with my youngest sister, my brain rebels at the thought of measuring out chemicals and trying to follow set procedures to ensure the desired reaction occurs. I just don’t like the whole process. My sister has tried to get me to buy her rock crystal growing kits, and even with this I tell her she can get one, but I don’t want to be involved in mixing everything together. Why do I not enjoy participating in making a chemical reaction when I really do enjoy the result (rock crystals really are cool to me)? I’m still not really certain about that. Perhaps it’s the precise and procedural nature of those kinds of science activities that has the free-flowing creative side of me saying no. (I will note that scientific illustration, although requiring precision and containing the word “scientific”, is for me a completely different experience compared to completing a chemistry experiment, and so I do enjoy drawing animals and plants with morphological accuracy.)
In any case, gaining a new perspective on how I can incorporate science into my life while working on my creative career has filled me with renewed confidence and motivation. Now I just need to find enough science podcasts and audio books to satisfy my science hungry brain while I am busy creating new art!
Daily Art Practice, Peony Watercolor
This was a birthday card I recently made for a friend. I painted this while working through day 31 of the CreativeBug class “31 Flowers to Paint with Yao Cheng.” Before completing this painting, I wasn’t sure how challenging it would be to paint a flower with so many petals like a peony, but the technique and style I followed made it a lot easier than I expected!
Daily Art Practice, Small Bird Painting, Gouache
Today I painted gouache for the first time! To me, it was like using a mixture of watercolors and acrylics. I really liked how I could build up texture, as well as being able to add water for a smoother application without lessening the opacity too much. Very fun!