On Being An Artist

I've been busy busy busy

(except for the last week and a bit due to this nasty cold)

but I still fear I won't get all that I want to get done for my upcoming show.
It's like this every time!  I stress out even though I know I'll pull something together in the end!

 

Aside from all of the hours upon hours of colour work that people get to see...

they don't get to see the hours upon hours of sketching time I put into each piece.

 

 

I love the drawing part...the tiny detail part...perhaps just as much as the colour part.

I do it in waves, I won't sketch for months at a time and than suddenly 'it's time'...

Time to do nothing but draw, get new ideas roughed out & get old ideas drawn out for the finals.

 I'll have my head bent over sketchbooks & tracing paper & reference books for hours upon hours.

When I am working with coloured pencils,

I have to take frequent breaks because of my wrist & neck...

but when I am drawing and sketching it's the opposite, the longer I am at it, the more fueled I am.

My honey knows I am in 'the zone' and he never complains that he's barely sees me but instead

he brings me food and hot teas and takes over the laundry etc, (he's so awesome).

 

I love that I've been doing this long enough now to know that I never have to fear.

I have no fear of my creativity drying up or just not being there.

I am now comfortable in my creative cycle.

I know that I may not get any ideas for months on end BUT in a flash every few months,

I will sit down and get enough drawn out to last me until the next creative burst.

 

 Here's a sneak peek at a new piece I am currently working on that I am excited about...

 

 

Often what's in my head isn't necessarily what I end up with...

which is disappointing and frustrating yes but it fuels me to make the  next piece better.

But sometimes, like with this bird filled one, it turns out better than I envisioned

and it's a piece you can come back to again & again with a whispered 'Wow...I did that..'

and there's such joy in that whispered moment & realization. 

For me, it's one of the best things about being an artist.

 

Coloured pencils are a tedious, unforgiving, super slow medium but I don't care...I've never cared.

Even when my professors scolded me & said to stop using them, that they weren't a viable medium!

Like my honey and the bunnies...they make my heart tick happily.

 

Tick Tock...Tick Tock...happy happy happy!