Snow days in Kentucky

It's not usual that we see a lot of snow down here in Kentucky. Winters tend to be pretty mild. There was a point this year where I wondered if my son would get to see any accumulation at all and then all of the sudden snowpocalypse was upon us. 

Let me give you an example of normal vs.  this last week. 

This is normal. You can even still see the grass. 

This is not so normal. Over 8" in one night is pretty crazy around here! 

Needless to say the little one loved it, the dogs loved it, and we all had a good romp in the snow. 

By the way snow is beautiful. You don't really get much better than freshly fallen snow that hasn't been touched yet. Love. 

All was fun and games until the snow refused to go anywhere for a week and then it immediately rained and turned everything into slush and ice. 

Ugh. So of course everyone was stuck inside for awhile. I spent half a week snowed in at my mothers house....that's a party let me tell ya. 

I haven't been able to get much headway on a lot of projects but here's my latest that I'm currently working on finishing. 

I took a spin off wolf in sheeps clothing and changed it to sheep in wolf's clothing. That's how I feel some days. 

It's a work in progress, but I'm liking the direction. I'll be sure to update when finished, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time with all this funky weather. 

Until next time. 

Forgive me twice?

I have to apologize...again.
I want this to be the last time.
For realisies.
I haven't made a post in quite awhile, and only here recently got back into the swing of things.
It wasn't you, it was me.
I still love you, I still love art, I still love Freedom Runs. So. So. Much.
Let me come back?
I went through a tough time, some big changes occurred in my life, and I handled them poorly.
I couldn't write, I didn't care about painting, I almost gave up on Freedom Runs for a second time.
But then I didn't. Life MOVED ON. I kept going. I was ok.
I picked my brush back up, and loved what came out of it. I still had it. I had it better than I've had it before. I practiced calling myself an artist. I stopped comparing my artwork to those I deemed better than I. And it was amazing.
I painted what I wanted to paint. I found my niche. I found myself.
So many I's. Apologies. I think that's a no-no.
We have a lot of catching up to do, you and I. So many pictures have formed since I left you. I got back on social media, and have been working on my website! 

You can view it here:

Http://meagsstatton.wix.com/freedomruns

Super long and drawn out, but I'm working on the whole domain issue. In the meantime....just click on the link and bookmark it ;)
I'll give you a preview of what I've done. The rest will come in separate posts, because, I promise to write to you, at least once a week. Pinky promise. Kiss and all.
Let me know what you think of the new works. Here are the first few I created. 

They were inspired from my previous wild in color doings, the wolf and the lion. 

The series grew and I'm loving every brushstroke. 

I also apparently went through a purple phase. Shhhhh. 

Until next time, I leave you with fabulous colorful circusy animals. 

Play me a fiddle, Sing me a song

Anybody, please. I'm not picky. 

Have I told you how much I love music? If not, I LOVE music. Love love. Super love. Adore. I live in music when I hear it. 

You heard me. 

I said live in it. 

I've always wanted to be able to play an instrument, mostly the violen. There is nothing more beautiful than the sound it creates. It is the epic double rainbow of the music world. 

Unfortunately I live in tiny town, nowhere, so violens are not common place. 

I did however fiddle with a guitar once. It was very short lived and not educational and I regret that it somehow walked out of my life. Sad face, insert here. 

While I never mastered the instruments I have been experimenting with lyrics. I'm hoping some of my guitar pickin friends can bring my words to life in the near future. 

I'm super excited about this, which means I'm on the verge of mini panic attack. Nerves of steel baby. 

If I overcome my ridiculousness I might share them with you. But in the meantime I will bringing some of my friends words  to life via art, so be on the lookout in the near future. This might be one of the not interesting projects I've ever taken on. 

Until then I leave you with this picture. Because it reminds of a song. Particularly, a violin. 

Acceptance & Mending

I came across some tough decisions this past week. I'm gonna be honest, I'm gonna be blunt. I had to make a choice of whether or not I was going to continue with Freedom Runs. 

I had some serious thinking to do. I debated with myself all week on what the smart thing to do was. 

The smart thing, of course would be to quit. This past year has been anything but profitable. I haven't had an order in months. My etsy shop is collecting dust. 

My hopes were dwindling and I was almost ready to throw down my brushes. When I couldn't make a sell for a charitable cause it almost broke me. 

But then I realized that sometimes the smart decision, is not always, the best decision. Where would anybody be if they lived their life soley based on numbers and the safest options? How many had to get to where they wanted with a little bit of recklessness and a whole lot of distant day dreaming? 

I couldn't walk away from this thing I had grown from nothing, only to leave it to become nothing again. 

I also came upon a second realization. That my poor judgements and self criticism was the cause of this downhill climb I was doing. 

Freedom Runs had a quaint start, but it was a start. I made some serious bad calls and lost the trust of two clients and I will never forget or forgive myself for the silly mistakes that caused me business. 

I have tried my hardest to do better since then. Except that's not true. I did not try my hardest, which is why I was left making this decision. 

I want to apologize to everyone who believed in me. To everyone who has supported me. To everyone I messed up with. 

I was not putting my all into this dream of mine. I almost gave up. I let myself fall into a rut of "what ifs" and "could haves" and that is a deep hole to dive into. 

I promise from here on out, you will get nothing but my best. There will be no half assing and no procrastination. You will only see what I have poured my heart and soul into and nothing less. 

I'm giving Freedom Runs a new start. 

I'm giving myself a second chance. 

I hope you will do the same.

Be reckless with me.

Let me paint you a day dream. 

Sincerely, honestly, whole heartedly,

Meagan Statton

Founder, creator, dreamer 

of 

Freedom Runs 

Epic Failure #1

Two words. Face painting. 

You heard me. 

As an artist, I have to tell you that was the hardest, most disheartening thing I've ever had to do. You want to feel like a failure real quick? Go face paint a child. 

Yes, it was THAT bad. 

I was asked to have a face painting booth for a benefit, so I thought I would practice on the children at a family birthday.  Mind you, I had never done this before. But how hard could it be, right? WRONG. IT'S HARD. REALLY, REALLY HARD, OK?!

Mistake number 1: don't buy the cheapest face paint you can find. It's that cheap for a reason. Seriously, some if the colors didn't even show up. I did multiple layers and the skin still showed up underneath even with the dark colors. 

Mistake number 2: don't think you can get away with just any random brushes you have laying around. That was my biggest no no. You need make up sponges, and a variety of different good acrylic brushes to get the effects you want. I was stuck with three fairly small brushes trying to paint children's whole faces. Wasn't. Happening. 

Mistake number 3: do not underestimate the art of face painting. It's not as simple as you might think. Painting a face and painting on canvas are two different worlds baby. If you have mad face painting skills, I have the utmost respect for you. 

At the end of the day though, everyone was happy. The kids were smiling, and that is what's really important. (I was personally horrified at the results, but aren't we all our own worst critics?)

I'll shake it off as lesson learned and hope for better results next time. Until then, some serious face painting research is due. 

Of Adventures

I've had a few adventures since my last post. Sorry for the wait guys, I had a bit of a creative block. Happens to the best of us right? Maybe? You understand. 

To start things off, we took boss hiking, who did exceptionally well considering he can be a little anti social and hard to handle when leashed. Made momma proud, **tear**. Took Gia and the pups to the river, who did not do exceptionally well. We're going to work on that bit though, I love the river too much for my fur child to not also be a river rat.  

I had my first trip to some real Kentucky horse trails on Kentucky lake, and I almost didn't come back. Can I PLEASE just live there? Seriously, you can't possibly understand unless you were there in that perfect 70 degree weather, with all of that fabulous wilderness. If you have not ridden a horse in these conditions, I'm convinced you are not truly happy in life yet. 

Then I ventured back to the farm and had a lovely week of sunshine and animals. Got my monthly dose of beautiful fields and old barns. There is no better medicine than being out in gorgeous weather surrounded by what you love. It is good for the soul, of this I am sure. 

I have also started on another piece of my wild art series. This is one is back to canvas and acrylics, good old trusty. He isn't finished but he's coming along nicely if I do say so myself. I have never been more excited for the art I was doing than for the art in this series. This is my baby, my first real creative collection that is all mine. I am proud to share it with you. 

I also decided that since I was gone for so long I would share a few pictures instead just one, because who doesn't love a good picture or five? Exactly. 

I took this picture on horseback, IN the lake. You really can't beat that. It is the definition of lovely. 

Hello farm, I love you. Old barns never go out of style in my book. 

I forgot to mention I found my FIRST and ONLY four leaf clover in 24 years. I'll take that as a good sign. 

Until next time ❤️

Wild in Color

I've started a new series, inspired by my watercolor wolf (see previous posts) and I've finally decided to name it. Wild in color.

I feel like this fits. I'm rolling with it. 

My newest addition is my portrait of a lion done with prismacolor pencils. I'm pretty fond of him. He's not perfect, but I'm still learning the ways of the colored pencil. Bear with me. 

I'm going to be experimenting with different mediums throughout my series, and perhaps I'll find a favorite. So far, I'm diggin the Watercolors. 

My next adventure will be a tiger on canvas, done with acrylics. He's already looking pretty awesome. I have a lot of these lined up, be prepared for more colorful awesome headed your way!