{"id":46569,"date":"2014-01-08T00:09:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T08:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=46569"},"modified":"2014-01-08T00:09:04","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T08:09:04","slug":"make-it-pretty-merit-badge-expert-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/46569","title":{"rendered":"Make It Pretty Merit Badge, Expert Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>, now with 5,602 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,898 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/a> \u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Make It Easy\/Make It Pretty Expert Level Merit Badge<\/a>, I was taking my artistic urges to a whole new place. A whole new level. The Expert Level.<\/p>\n

Gulp.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t feeling exactly \u2026 expert like. Half of my oil painting tendencies were still stick figures and the like. I didn\u2019t think my best work was paintings of people, so I decided to stick to inanimate objects\u2014like trees or mountains or something. Something that didn\u2019t wiggle so much. (Mr. Wonderful posed for me and so did Midge\u2019s triplets, but I gotta say, they all need to work on their Relaxation Merit Badges … talk about squirmy!)<\/p>\n

I got out my collection of oil paints and my largest canvas. I had been saving this canvas for over a year, until the Creative Juices struck.<\/p>\n

Until I could no longer put off My Muse.<\/p>\n

Until the portraits in my mind shouted to be drawn!<\/p>\n

Also for the day I ran out of copy paper.<\/p>\n

That would be today.<\/p>\n

The view from my back porch is ever so lovely at sunset, so that was my aim. I nervously paced through my house most of the day. I checked the time at least 14 times per hour (sunset was set to arrive at 5:05 this evening, according to my friendly television meteorologist). Then I become conscious of the fact that I could start everything but<\/i> the sunset\/sky ahead of time, so I got cracking.<\/p>\n

I was so anxious to mar my blank, white canvas that my hand shook on the brush as I dipped it carefully into Cerulean Blue. I momentarily panicked as I second-guessed my knowledge on the meaning of the word Cerulean.<\/p>\n

Was it sky-like enough?<\/p>\n

Firmly, I gave myself a good talking to.<\/p>\n

“Self,” said I, “art is subjective. A matter of opinion. There is no right or wrong. Only art.”<\/p>\n

I was feeling much better. Rather sage-like. An art guru. The yogi of oils. The maharishi of paints. The counselor of creative expression.<\/p>\n

The Yoda of Merit Badges!<\/p>\n

Train you, I will.<\/p>\n

Anyway, my confidence bolstered and the sun about to set, I feverishly painted away. (Note: I didn\u2019t really have a fever, it\u2019s just how we artists like to talk.)<\/p>\n

I was so obsessed over a particular arch in my garden\u2014getting the greens of the ivy just right\u2014that I completely missed my sunset.<\/p>\n

Grr!<\/p>\n

Not one to let anything detour me in my quest for all things merit badge-y, I changed direction and cast a twilight appearance on my painting. Who needs sunsets anyway? Totally overrated. A few twinkling stars in the night sky, both in real life and still life, and I was nearly finished.<\/p>\n

My fingers were covered in paint and so were my jeans, but I was feeling pretty good. All I had left was to learn the fine art of framing my masterpiece and then getting up the gumption to enter my creation in the local upcoming art show downtown.<\/p>\n

Eek. What if no one liked it? What if they thought it was painted by a monkey?<\/p>\n

Or a baby?<\/p>\n

Or a someone who just drank a four-shot espresso and happens to be blind in one eye?<\/p>\n

Or a baby monkey who just drank a four-shot espresso and happens to be blind in one eye?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m ready for this badge \u2026 talk me into it.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,602 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,898 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ Wondering … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}