Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Small Beginning (of sorts)




I 'fess up. I've been in the midst of 'artist's block' for, oh say, 4 years now. I used to be able to crank artwork out under almost any circumstances. I never waited for inspiration, I just sat down, drank a ton of coffee and made something.
Anyway, that hasn't been the case for awhile and it has been bugging me. I could blame the kids but there are plenty of working artists out there with kids and other demands on their precious time. I could also try blaming the internet, or craigslist (refinishing furniture isn't always fun but it sure is satisfying) or the inevitable mid life crisis or, or... the cat, perhaps?
So, after some healthy procrastination, I finally (!) sat down, drank some coffee and started to draw. It was awful. The drawings were terrible, my ideas didn't work. Ugh.
Despondent, I hopped onto the internet for some inspiration (I said I never waited). I found Bret Pendlebury's Etsy shop and his work brought a smile to my
face. He also has a blog http://bretpendlebury.blogspot.com/
With the gears finally turning, I found some old photos of people and started to draw and to color. Got totally absorbed, forgot to drink my coffee. It's a shaky start... but I had fun.


Monday, March 8, 2010

A Little Inspiration


I was watching my daughter draw yesterday and feeling both envious and inspired. I had given her 3 pieces of black matboard and she lay across the floor and tackled them with her colored pencils.
She just drew and drew, a narrative forming like a stream of conciousness. There is a princess, a dog, raindrops, umbrella, suitcase and a turtle... all on one panel.
Watching her, I wished I could create like that- without the critic whispering in my ear, the thousands of images of artwork much better than mine flashing in front of my
eyes and the hesitation that holds my hand and freezes my mind.
I hope for her that she will never lose her ability to create so freely. For me, I just wish I could regain it.