Let your soul sing loud & proud

For years I’ve secretly wanted to illustrate a small plant room. Fill it with my dream plants and my type of furniture in it.

As the winter months drag along, I'm seeing more illustrations of sunny rooms and plants, places where artists want to be instead of freezing in the snow.

It wasn't until last week when I sat down and had zero motivation to draw anything robot related, did I finally start on my room illustration. One of the many ideas I have thought about forever.

Even as I pulled out my markers and was about to start sketching the room, my doubts crept in and said “maybe we should draw those robots instead”-

Nah, I felt bold that day. So I started on my room. First I needed to bring to life this leaf chair I've been thinking about forever.

As I worked on the leaf chair, I stated thinking about other elements in the room. The window had to be this specific design. In a way, the window is my eye, the room is my interior thoughts/my brain I guess.

I needed a scene outside the windows and GodIlla attacking marshmallow peeps was exactly what I needed. It speaks to my contradictory nature. It was also another thing I've wanted to illustrate over time as well. I was combining random ideas off my “to draw list” and I had a freaking blast drawing this.

Here come the cats..the orange one is my cat Liono. The black one is based off no cat in particular. I have their eyes large because they're hearing the carnage happening outside the window. I love all types of Monstera..This was going to be a variegated one with whites and hunter greens in it. But I wanted more color, less white. So I found out that a lime green variegated Monstera exists, that fits perfectly in my room now.

I had to call it a day at this point. I needed rest and a break away from obsessively drawing in a hyperfocused state.

But guess what happened that night? I dreamt of working on this. I woke up and anticipated working on this as soon as possible.

I really don't get excited like that to illustrate anything these days honestly. And it caught me off guard, this burning need to draw these plants and furniture. My soul was singing real loud, everything inside of me vibed with this kind of art in a way that I'm mindful of. I think I'll draw some more rooms with plants again, see how my soul reacts that time. And to take note if things start gaining traction, if anything shows a green light to pursue that path of illustrating rooms with plants in them.

Sometimes it's just a one time drawing need, never to be revisited again. But like I said, my desire to finish this over everything else, even sleeping (which I love to do) made me realise maybe this piece means more than the others do. Something is different here.

The marker mess. This is after I’ve woken up out of my creative frenzy. Staying in that drawing zone, I can't waste time putting markers back properly. The physical need to express myself comes first. I’ll put them away nicely when I’m done that work for the day.

Completed.

The orange cat is now sleeping peacefully, no longer alert. Black void cat is alert, this works.

It's hard to describe the internal pleased feeling I have when I look at this. It's a deep seated happiness, a genuine contented feeling inside. I've made my soul happy, this was what needed to happen.

I hope you have a chance to draw or do something that makes your soul sing with happiness. That is such a winning feeling inside.

I've sent off this image to be turned into a giclee print. We will see how it prints, how it looks, and I'll do a preorder. Giclee prints are expensive, and not everyone cares to spend that kind of money. It's a test to see if the interest is there.

Either way I’ve won. I love this piece so much.