Getting Renovicted.
Being forced to move so the landlord can sell this place while the market is hot. It’s “just” one of their four extra income houses. Can I afford to buy this place? Not at the current market which is thousands over its actual worth.
Gotta move, Times are tough as shit.
What do you draw for your daily practise? Q & A.
Having survived the incredibly humbling experience that it was to start making art again in my 30s. Especially after quitting art for so long…it makes me want to share my story. I hope it helps other former artists, make their way back to creating art again.
I go on artist message boards across the internet and when I feel compelled to, I will share some of my experiences. Sometimes people relate, and they ask me for more details. I had some great feedback on my latest response, so I felt it's good to share here too.
Sharing art life experiences
I really want to elaborate how DONE I was with art back then. Like my son didn't know I could draw until he was 5 years old. I really didn't think I’d ever mention the art thing to my kids. I figured if they had a natural inclination to it, I would say I did it at one point. But I really didn't care either way if I never drew again at that point.
✨Ship keychain updates & shop wins✨
Thank you for the 500 sales!!!!
Also! Keychains are made and en route to Canada. Once I have them in hand, I'll let everyone know!
Talking about therapy. It's long.
The right kind of therapy has to be available 24/7. Because the person isn’t always ready to accept therapy. Sometimes it takes years or decades of repeat trauma for a person to open up to changing their lives. Sometimes they really never will change
Customised Photo Matts
The original inspiration for custom matts came from the many Art shows I’ve visited over the years. It's a popular way to gift someone some original art, without breaking the budget. Many years later, I would be reminded of this and this time I decided to try it for myself. And I love the results.
Work often equals burnout often.
Artistic burnouts are inevitable. Maybe it's just part of the process sometimes. Some artists think these burnouts are career ending.
They're not.
I find that the more you take on commissions and deal with larger amounts of money in exchange for your art-the more likely burnouts will occur and you have to constantly refine your ideas to keep going.
Finding numbers in my abstract painting about grief
One morning, I found myself staring at the Heartache painting, as I often do. It's hung in the kitchen, a high traffic spot in my house. I feel the memory of the rush of emotions each time I see it.
This time however, I picked up on something different about the painting. I noticed there was a number 4 in among the random splotches of paint! A very clear number 4 at that. It definitely wasn't intentional on my part. It was purely random from the paint strokes that happened during the unconscious painting of grief.
Not far below the first “4” discovery, I found a second number 4 in my paintjng. What did this mean? I didn't consciously put it there, and my son wasn't writing numbers yet.
First day off in two weeks
It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. I had two paying gigs happen at the same time. So I had to split my time between both, and parent (it's summer holidays so no school) and keep the house up and cook meals and so on.
To alleviate some stress, I wrote my to-do list, and cut out the unnecessary things that could wait.
Prioritised my “spoons” and time as best as I could.
The Creature Project
The kids produce original designs that get redrawn/reimagined by professional artists. This is to help boost/restore creativity in kids, help them connect deeper to creating and also inspire them to see where their creations could go.
Touching grass
I mention the tough parts of being a freelancer artist, because it's not discussed enough. There's so much rejection and rebuilding to do for most of us. And if it's not discussed, then we assume that we are the only ones to face such rejection. And it becomes demoralizing and unable to produce art becomes a nasty circle of defeat.