Check-In
I felt it important to check-in with myself after writing that post about fear. You know, New Year, new resolution and persistant bad habits. Last week I could already feel myself sliding downwards into the black hole of fear and doubt but by being aware of my patterns, I was able to re-direct my thoughts. It IS POSSIBLE! It’s astounding how much effect a change in attittude and perspective has on productivity.
Inspiration
Winslow Homer. When I started working on Keep the Light, the author sent me an image of The Fog Warning so that I could get an idea of the wave structure in a stormy sea. Since then his work has been a constant source of inspiration for this book. Homer’s colour is so astoundingly accurate, it’s startling. The watercolours especially, because they are so full of gesture, are deeply moving because their accuracy puts you there in the moment, feeling empathy for his figures.
What Homer is teaching me, (besides REALLY using my eye for colour) is to be bold and step past the fear. To go deeper in colour and brushstroke to create a real sense of drama so that the viewer really feels for the characters.
Side-Project
I LOVE life drawing. It gets me really excited and engaged and I find the brain work (drawing what you see, not what your brain thinks it knows) really satisfying. So the teacup painting was a challenge in the ever ellusive ellipse. The battle is not letting the brain take the driver’s seat. Ellipses are everywhere, we think we know their shape and there’s the difficulty. They’re like drawing hats, or chairs or bananas. You have to refrain from drawing what you believe them to be. Since I wasn’t interested in setting it on a table, and to satisfy my urge for all things pattern and detail, I traced a William Morris design (upside down), and painted it in a minimal palette. I think what makes it interesting is how your eye merges the teapcup with the pattern and then fights to separate or distinguish the two. This is available as an original watercolour painting in my Etsy shop, or you can contact me directly through my contact page on my website, or via Instagram or Facebook.
Art Biz
I’ve signed up to recieve emails from Marie Forleo. I’d love to take her B School course one day. For now I’m getting lots of helpful tips and inspiration in my inbox to keep me on track. Check her out!
Don’t be mad at me, but I’m a little late in telling you how awesome this planner is because yesterday was your last day to buy it! I had my eye on it for awhile and then I watched a demo video and it did it for me. The cool thing about this business planner is it’s a downloadable PDF which means you can use it year after year. It also gives you the freedom to change or add to your pages as you go along just by printing a fresh sheet. Check out The Dream Job Shop because they offer all kinds of information on running a successful creative business.
That’s it for now, have a good week, friends!