Find Joy in the Little Things

 

I found something that is revving up my mojo again to create.  I have been listening to podcasts, reading books and I am beating this thing, artists block!

I can't really convey well my feelings of knowing I was right all along and let myself be talked out of it by "experts". 

My lifelong dream was to become a working artist and I read all the things, watched even more things and debated, and went back and forth for so long.  I then saw the daily painters and decided I could do it.

Armed to the teeth with what I thought was the know-how I needed and a beautiful excessive art supply stash, away I went!

Little did I know that the very thing I used all my life to de-stress and be free was going to get gummed up in the little professional details.  I am not cut out for marketing, nor schmoozing, oh please don't ask me to schmooze!  I am a  person who likes one and one deep conversations. I feel like a fake schmoozing and selling myself.  Good Lord, who came up with that term, "selling yourself"?

It didn't take long before I had "Imposter Syndrome".  And it followed with, "can I make more art that people like"? After so many sales.

Then the itch came.  It was SO terrible, that itch.  I had to scratch that itch.  The horror of all horrors I needed to experiment with a different medium for a while! That goes against any marketing or branding that I ever ran across!  I'll lose my collectors they said!

Honestly, I don't know if I had more than one sale to a person, so how does that count as a collector?

Anyway, GOOD NEWS!  I removed every bit of stress completely, shut off the TV, the news, all low vibration movies, and moved away from social media. It was the thing I needed. Also the next thing I needed was a medium to get excited about!  Enter a random suggested YouTube video by Lisa Glanz. I would call it a God thing for sure!

I have been making mandalas in Procreate.  My back went out for the first time in years on Labor Day and I have to sit a certain way for a portion of the day to relax the muscles or anytime I get tight.  Perfect for drawing on my iPad!

Needless to say, I followed her tutorial as shown in the pic above and the rest is history. I immersed myself in making new texture brushes.  Going through all my old Photoshop brushes to see what I could use and go down memory lane.  I loved to tweak my website with Photoshop.  Especially when I lost the juice to paint, it was a procrastination thing.  Yet a creative thing.

I loved my Numerary series since I was able to make many custom elements in Photoshop and use them in collage on the painting.  It was a neat way to have a voice.

I am having a very good time.  The day flies by.  My creative juices are flowing.  I will settle down to make official art and not goof around too long making brushes which is just such a blast!

My next goal is to learn how to make cute characters and not scary or ugly characters.  It's a real art!