One of my favorite things about being a parent is listening to the stories my daughter makes up and really trying to encourage her imagination. She has named a bunch of the cacti which line our windowsills, while our cacti are very accustomed to their suburban lives they also like a bit of adventure, this is a group of them taking a family vacation to the desert.
My favorite way to eliminate the often paralyzing fear of "ruining" "good" paper is to just paint on any and all junk mail that comes into my house. Higher end catalogs are great for this, they don't use slick, thin paper (and even that gets used in collage or as a desk cover for other projects) and they're already bound for you. Just add marks! Carry it with you. Scan the pages you like. Cut it up later for making other art. It's "just" junk mail, so there is literally no pressure. I have HUNDREDS of these type of things and I run across them all the time, forgotten, in some old backpack or purse or drawer and it's a treasure to look through them again, and add new marks, paints and words.
Putting the painting of the newt aside for now.
It was not going as I hoped (see previous post)...I still have ideas but feel like I need to work on some things before progressing. Thinking it was the eyes, so decided to work on some studies. These creatures do have fascinating eyes!
Lindsey and I recently went on a date night while on vacation in Florida. Fantasy and reality are two very different things. I also figured this was a great way to introduce DAT (Die Alone Together) Comics. I will hopefully upload a new strip every week. I hope you enjoy it!
No, I can't get it out of my head, now my whole world is gone for dead. This song has been stuck in my head for a while now, kind of interesting. I apologize for the long ramble of reflection this will be, but here I go. It's been an interesting few weeks, ups and downs, odd mindsets, but here I am. I don't know, quarantine has shifted a lot of things for everyone, and I've noticed a lot of changes in myself. I jokingly say I'm becoming soft, but it's a bit true, in a good way. I'm thankful for so many people in my life, and I'm finally letting those people how much they mean to me. I know I've said this before, but gymnastics has really been getting me through, and I'm proud of all the progress I've been making recently. My coaches make my life better, they're just incredible people and I love them so much. Thank you to the person I had a whole long text conversation with tonight (you know who you are) and for always dealing with my chaotic self. And finally, I've started to accept who I am, and that's a nice feeling. There's still the dark parts, the static still consumes me from time to time, but tonight was a good night. Thank you for all the support from everyone (in and outside of this community!). I genuinely appreciate all of it
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver
yoga, skateboarding, meditation, mantras, mudras (this one helps a hurt back), native american prints, yin-yang. just some of the mystical things i'm inspired by.
Things I learned from fairy tales.
Being first is not always good. Being second is worse.
And so, slow down and enjoy not being the fastest!
https://www.instagram.com/p/COa3tsAhAWf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Here's something I drew in 10 minutes this morning. I was on call waiting for work to start and my anxiety went through the roof. Not sure why, but it did. My friend asked me if this sketch was a sound, what would it be? I said static. That's what things feel like most of the time: all-consuming, loud, abrasive static.
We all start from zero. We learn to crawl, we learn to walk, we learn to run, and we fall. We get back up and keep on going.
But life is complicated, it doesn't always go as we hope for. The urge to give up drags you down. And we struggle to fight and climb our way back up. We fall again, we climb again. Sometimes weaker, sometimes stronger than before.
The secret? Just keep on going, no matter how hard things are because one day, everything will be okay. And that glimmer of hope is what I struggle to fight for each day.
I had to learn so many new things today just to get this done. It's a simple comic but the digital process is very different from what I'm used to. I love comics and I'm finally making my own.
