Karen Alma
What I think about. Things that happen to me. Stuff I like. And other things.
Category: Books, Art, Creativity
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I recently submitted two watercolor paintings to a juried art show for members of the New Mexico Watercolor Society, happening in Las Cruces, New Mexico this fall. The theme is agriculture and farming over the history of this region. It took me some time to figure out what to paint because it’s not my usual…
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I’ll let you in on a couple of secrets. First, I’m a massive control freak inside my head, and second, I worry. A LOT. About everything. In some areas of my life, I hide it so well that people are genuinely shocked to learn this about me. In fact, I’ve had friends say, “But you’re…
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I want to chat about something that’s been swirling in my mind for the last week – antifragility in talent acquisition. You know how sometimes life throws curveballs that make you stronger? Well, that’s kind of what antifragility is all about. I was first introduced to this concept through Matt, Automattic’s CEO, in Nassim Nicholas…
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The other day, as I was sitting down for to work on a painting, it hit me – there’s a similarity between my art and my day job in Talent Acquisition. A blank canvas and a new job opening are both full of potential and also a little daunting. Where do you start? How do…
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Today is Matt’s birthday and all he wants for his birthday is for people to blog, so I’m posting something today in his honor. After all, WordPress changed my life back when I was a stay-at-home mom looking for a creative outlet, so it’s the least I can do. I’m behind on announcing that a…
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My youngest kiddo is always game for me to take his picture. He’s not always game to just give me a regular old smile. Hence, I have piles of pictures of really interesting faces to practice portrait painting with. Here are a few studies from my sketchbook over the past year: More to come!
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Some of you may know that I’m an artist. When I’m not working, I’m painting. I picked up The War of Art the other day because I was talking to someone about procrastination and fear of success holding people back from putting their work out into the public eye. Somehow, the conversation led us to…
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It’s pretty easy to get caught up in where I want to be as opposed to where I am. There are so many amazing watercolorists doing such gorgeous work and imposter syndrome is real. I have it in my professional life, why not my creative life too. 😅😂😭 I recently had 3 months paid leave…
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We have a debate going on in my house around whether or not it’s ok to write in a book. For whatever reason I would never write in a novel, but I write ALL OVER non-fiction. In fact, for this reason, I don’t enjoy e-books as much because, while I know I can highlight and…
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I’m sure I’m not alone in having found a new obsession/hobby during 2020. Mine has been watching Indian films with my daughter. Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the Indian film industry. Just what I’ve learned by watching them. I’m certain I miss or misunderstand cultural elements. I don’t always quite always know the difference…
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I was listening to Simon and Garfunkel today and was surprised to hear an old favorite hymn beneath the song American Tune. I’d never heard that song before. Here’s O Sacred Head Now Wounded (or sore wounded if you are in the UK I guess 😀 )
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Monday morning I saw more ink sketches than normal on my Instagram feed. Intrigued, I followed the hashtag and discovered Inktober. While the art I was seeing on my IG feed was way beyond anything I can do, the concept looked simple: grab a sharpie and doodle something based on the prompts and post it…