Camkdesigns

Happy Mother’s Day to this amazing mom!!! Your the best! 143!!!!

Been a hot second since I have just made a post and not a reel. I know it’s not what the cool kids do but ok well! Had to do a little raven stealing the sun. Used gel printing for the back ground really happy with how it turned out!

Hello friends! I know I have not been very active as of late. Since I have not posted my yearly holiday cards I thought I might explain why I have been so absent. I have not wanted to post because I could not fake happiness for the last 8 months or so I have gone into a really sever depression. It has been really crippling for me artistically, mentally and physically. Everyone thinks the know what depression is but the truth is it’s different for everyone. When I got to the point of sitting in my basement by my self crying I knew I needed to do something and it has taken several months but I’m on the right track. I hope to be posting more. Please do me a favor and check on your friends. It’s important! Be sure to stop by the and get your cards!

Just like that I’m a dad of a teenage girl! Happy birthday to my awesome daughter! I love how strong you are and I need to work on my picture to the boyfriend face. Love ya dork!

So proud of this dude! He has been working really hard at in hopes of earning a gold metal. This weekend his dream came true. He battled so hard I’m super proud of him!!! The best part is the look of sheer joy on his face!

PLEASE READ

An epic day for education both good and bad! The student debt relief was approved giving many young people a huge gift. I know that there are a ton of people upset about this I’m definitely not one of them! I really wish that this had been around when I was paying back my loans! As a dumb kid I took out loans to cover school with out a thought in the world. All I knew was I needed a degree and for the most part that was true! I got my degree and went back to my community and gave back for the help that it gave me! Donating my time and effort to make my community better. I was fortunate that I landed a really well paying job and could afford to pay back my insane loan. Many struggle for years so I consider my self lucky! On the down side of education today failed the teachers students and families of Kent. As a child of teachers this blows my mind. The people who offer shape the minds of our youth are treated as though they are the problem. Truth is they are the solution! It is a pity that the school district doesn’t see it that way. It shows the districts disregard for educators that they would meet with the administrative staff union before the teachers union. Maybe the district would be better off with a union Negotiator then a superintendent! Won’t be voting for any incumbents in the next school board election!!!

Where to start… I know I have talked to this many times but I keep falling farther and farther away from anything that is “conservative” the over turning of Roe V Wade has pushed that farther. I don’t know how we as a country got to this point. I have a lot of conservative friends and family who are probably happy about this. But of them I don’t think one would want their daughters to carry the baby of r**e or insets they talk the talk but when it came down to it they would probably force abortion if there daughter was pregnant with the wrong guys baby. There is a lot of talk of protecting the unborn, but if the sanctity of life really mattered they would do more to help needy family’s. For those that claim to be libertarian how do you justify the government telling a woman what she can or can’t do with her own body? Abortion rights are human rights no ifs ands or buts full stop do not pass go. I guess that if a woman having the right to say what SHE can or can’t do with her body means I’m a crack pot socialist liberal wack job then so be it!

Decided I should post the finished product. I think I need to try this a few more times to get one that I really like. Kind of a fun process for sure!

Check out the new selection of magnets I have down at the !!! Super stoked how they turned out! Stop by and check them out along with all the other awesome stuff there is down there!!!

Channeling my inner Styx missing the ocean today. I’ve started using gesso and old pages from romance books to start as my base and it sure makes the color pop. Who wants to go boating?

Managed to bust out this little wax painting tonight. Been a bit since I melted crayons but I really like how it turned out!

Another tutorial painting! The best part is that the trees are painted with a brush that my kiddos coated in paint and did not clean it so it was more of a pallet knife then a brush…😂

So I watched this reel the other day that was one of those tutorials makes it look super easy. Well I was happy with how this turned out! One of the advantages of knowing how to paint is that you can actually figure out how yo make those paintings work for you!

Just some rocks in a creek… when we were kids we would stack rocks in creeks and rivers to build a bridge to cross. More often then not we would end up falling in and then just trudge across anyway. A good thing to remember as an adult even if you fall in the water you can still make it across if you try!

Sometimes I need to veg out and work on nothing. Really dig the circle swirls! Just a reminder but check on your friends this time of year can be a real struggle!

Another day closer to summer!!! One of these days I will make it back to Unalakleet to see my friends! But until then I will just keep painting that sunset from memory!!

I always loved this time of year daylight is coming back the colors are so amazing. Blues and purple pinks reflecting on the snow.

Not sure why but one thing that I always remember about hunting in the fall is when you wake up before dawn and you can see but you can’t see. Slowly things come in to focus and there is that 10 or 15 minutes when things look blue before dawn brakes. It’s been at least 15 years since I enjoyed this but I remember it like yesterday. It’s amazing what you can see when there is no other light then the sky.

Dreaming of spring time!!! I remember being in Nome dreaming of summer and all the fun we would have hiking it seemed like forever before June would come. One of the nice things about living down south now is that it’s never really not spring. 🤣

Found a stack of post cards for an event that were being thrown out. So I decided that I would paint on them instead of throwing them out. Really like how the colors in this one turned out.

Troubled waters. Feel like the winds are coming out of the south southwest when I lived in Nome that meant rough weather was coming. Hope we can all ride this storm out safely hopefully warm summer breezes will bring calmer minds.

Another abstract landscape. This weekend when I was working at the a customer came in and bought a painting of mine. He asked how I painted if I used pictures to paint from. I told him that sometimes I used them but that I mostly painted from memory. He was totally shocked at this. Maybe I’m weird but can’t you remember that late August day when it had been raining super hard but cleared up and the sun came out for the last time that year that it was really warm till the next summer?

I keep trying to perfect these abstracts and I’m happy with this one. It almost reminds me of an icon painting of the Virgin Mary. But maybe it’s just me.

Managed to make another OSB pot today. Think it turned out rather well! Like the burnt top part on it. Need to glue some more blocks together to keep pushing the ideas!

I decided to give my new painting technique a little something different that’s not a landscape. This Walrus was a huge pain to get figured out!but I think nailed it!

Decided to try out something new. I used OSB to make this vase. I was trying to channel my buddy he makes some of the most amazing things oils of pallet wood. So I just these OSB plywood scraps not bad for my first try I figure!

Went down a rabbit hole tonight and found and watched a bunch of his videos on YouTube. There was one where he was dancing on the beach. Made me homesick for the ocean so made this. It kinda reminds me more of Salmon Lake but still happy with it!

Trying this technique with a different twist. I think it’s funny that it took 8 try’s to get one that was not total crap… it’s all about the process and trusting that you will grasp enough wisdom to make it work…

Having a lot of fun with these little abstracts! Trying out some other techniques and adding some pen to this one to have some different bits and pieces. Never figured these would be so soothing!

Trying a little abstraction. Love the opaque look to this one! Really glad I took color and design back in school! I found like a million old file folders and what better way to repurpose them than with art!!!