My Year in Review and Leaning into Uncomfortable

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

It is the last day of 2022 and I am writing this as I look out the window in my studio at a chilly, white world with pale grey skies.  I'm so glad to be warm and cozy inside!  I've been dealing with a cold for the last few weeks so mostly its been lots of hot tea, movies and word games on my iPad.  We still had a lovely Christmas celebration, being able to share it with our children who were both home at the same time for a couple of days.  This doesn't happen too often so I treasure these times. 

Between the holiday activities and my cold, I haven't been in the studio much this last month except to finish a couple of pictures for friends and mess around with some doodling and stuff.   What I did get done is the year in review I talked about in my post last month.  Nothing fancy - just a simple list scribbled on a piece of paper which will be taped into my sketchbook.  Here's what I've learned from this exercise. 

1.  The highlight of my year was going to the Arts West Art Retreat in June.  I felt like I'd found a new home, and it opened up something in me that allowed me to move forward with a new confidence in my art.  This tells me that getting around other artists is important for support and to help me grow.  It is  something I should look to do again in 2023.

2.  I realized I had quite a few "firsts" this year, like placing my work for sale in the local museum gift shop.  These all took me way outside my comfort zone but I'm so glad that I did them.  Some were a great experience, and some I now know I will never do again!  I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't tried, so I should plan for more "first" experiences. 

3.  More of my art activities were related to the business of art and less on the actual art making.  This surprised me. Next year I need to make sure that I have more of a balance.  Making art is the best part after all!

This is probably the most thoughtful I have been of all the past reviews I've done.  Mostly its been a list of what I've done and a list of what I'd like to do - concrete, technical steps like learn how to paint with gouache (which I'm still working at).   

It feels this year I'm leaning into how I'd like to grow as an artist which is exciting, but also scary because I have no idea how to do this or where it will take me.  I recently listened to a podcast (sorry I can't remember which one it was) that talked about being an artist means learning to live with being uncomfortable, because that is where the great art comes from.  I guess I am looking at giving myself a year of uncomfortable!

I will post about what I do and how it turns out here on my blog.  And I'd really love to hear from you - have you stories or advice to share?  Is there something you did that you think myself and others should do or something we should avoid?  Are you just starting your journey like me?  Your experiences will be so helpful whether you are at the beginning of this all or are further up the path.  So thank you for sharing.

As for me, I've three large ideas of what I'd like to do in 2023.  I think my next step is to get a little more detailed with how to make this happen so I have more definite goals to shoot for.  I'll let you know what that is in the next post.

Until then, wishing for you a year of artful joy!

Leah

On Looking Back

December 01, 2022

Hello beautiful people! I can't believe we are already in December.  The months are whizzing by!  We are busy getting ready for Christmas here which means lots of baking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping, cooking.  Our children will be home for a few days and we'll play games and eat and go to Christmas mass and talk long walks in the snow and go cross-country skiing.  *sigh* It will be lovely.  

It's a busy time, especially if your working full or part-time, taking care of kids or elderly parents, and trying to keep up with the house and the cooking and the laundry and the pets and all the other things that make up our lives.  Christmas, as wonderful as it is, does come with a lot of extra things to do and if you're not super organized and on top of it, it also comes with a lot less sleep.

One Year-End Technique

I thought it might be nice to share with you one year end technique I started a number of years ago that helped, and continues to help, bring me, well, not joy which I am always looking for with my art, but satisfaction maybe, or a sense of achievement which contributes to the desire to keep going with my art and not quit.  

When I was in that position of crazy busy before I retired, by the end of November and the beginning of December I'd start feeling like another year had passed and again I'd had hardly any time to work on my art and creativity.  One year I decided to look back and list all the art things I'd done since January.  To my surprise, once it was all grouped together on a piece of paper, I saw that I'd actually done a fair amount.  It made me feel a little better.

The next year, seeing as I'd had actually been able to accomplish stuff, I figured I'd try to set a couple of art goals.  By the end of that year, I'd reached both those goals and was able to add those to the other small bits of art I'd done through the year to my "look back" list.  My heart filled with a little more confidence.

How I Do It

This small step is now an annual activity for me.  If I were really organized, I'd keep a running diary of everything I'd done all year.  But I'm not, so my method of generating my look back list is to: 

1. go through my Instagram and Facebook feeds to see what I posted 
2. scroll through my phone calendar to check on any art-related dates or meet-ups 
3. look through my stash of pictures, projects and sketchbooks to see what I worked on, both finished and unfinished

Every little bit of art activity, from painting a picture with gouache to having an art date with a friend to going to a museum to working in my sketchbook, gets on the list.  Sometimes the list is a lovely illustrated page or two in my sketchbook.  Other times it is just a list of words on paper. It depends on how busy I am.  The focus for me is on the gathering and reflecting, not the end product though I love to make it fun when I can.

The final step:  CELEBRATE!  

After all the gathering, it is time to hit pause and look at all the accomplishments, the obstacles overcome, the goals achieved or even partially achieved.  Every bit counts and every bit should be celebrated. This is such an important step.  I used to make my list, say "Yay!" and rush off to do the next thing and the next.  Slowing down to congratulate myself, and acknowledge myself and my efforts was really hard.  The thing was, if I didn't stop to look back and feel good and learn from what I'd done all year, then I would be missing out on all those good feelings and understanding of where I was at and the bonus of figuring out where I want to go next.

 How it Worked Over the Years

Some years I really did do a lot of stuff.  But there were years that I hardly got to do anything at all art-related, and goals were not even remotely accomplished.  From this I learned that it was important to also look at what else happened in my life during the year.   If someone was sick, or work was especially taxing and there simply was not enough energy to do a whole lot of art, well, that was life.  Then I'd tell myself, "Okay, even with all that happened this year you were able to do this and this and this."  Truthfully, it didn't feel good the first time, but over the years I was able to see the ebbs and flows and now I don't stress (well not that much) when I am in a down time for art.

It is fun to look back at what I've done and this technique is super at helping me see that I am moving forward and growing my skills even if it doesn't feel like it all through the year.  I've been retired for two years now and I'm so lucky that I'm able to do more art stuff.  But life is still crazy busy.  You'd think with no job to go to and no children at home that there'd be a whole lot more time.  Yet there are still chores to do, people to care for, and volunteering that needs to be done.  I also recognize that some of my busyness is from the things I chose to do.  So this technique of "looking back" is still as useful today as when I was juggling the children, the home, the work and all the other stuff.  

So That's It

I hope that you find this bit of sharing interesting.  Maybe it will have you thinking about your own journey, whether it is a creative journey or another path in life.  I'd invite you, if you are not already doing so, to take a few minutes for a "look back" at your year.  Make a simple list on a piece of paper or journal, or illustrate it in your sketchbook.  If you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about your process at year-end or if you give this a go for the first time, let us know how it works for you.  

If you are interested in checking out my latest art work, you'll find me on Instagram or Facebook.  I've some prints available for sale of my Inktober drawings, cost per print is $20 plus shipping.   You can see the pictures here. Contact me here to see if it is available. They were printed at Martha Street Studio in Winnipeg.  That was such a great experience!  I've also got some new designs in my Redbubble shop which you can check out here.  

Thanks guys!

 

Prints Available

I had so much fun doing the 31 day Inktober challenge this year. I love some of the pictures so much that I'm making a limited run of prints of my favorite this week.   I'm opening it up for a short time to you if you'd like to get a print of your favorite too.  The prints with be 8" x 10" on archival paper.  The cost is $20 per print.  Shipping is extra.  Only thing is that orders need to be in by Wednesday, November 09th.  And even if you don't get a print, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that these pictures have brought a smile to your face!

Day 1 Gargoyle

Day 2 Scurry

Day 3 Bay

Day 4 Scallop

Day 5 Flame

Day 6 Bouquet

Day 7 Trip

Day 8 Match

Day 9 Nest

Day 10 Crabby

Day 11 Eagle

Day 12 Forget

Day 13 Kind

Day 14 Empty

Day 15 Armadillo

Day 16 Fowl

Day 17 Salty

Day 18 Scrape

Day 19 Ponytail

Day 20 Bluff

Day 21 Bad Dog

Day 22 Heist

Day 23 Booger

Day 24 Fairy

Day 25 Tempting

Day 26 Ego

Day 27 Snack

Day 28 Camping

Day 29 Uh-Oh

Day 30 Gear

Day 31 Farm

All On Inktober (and Some Other Stuff)

November 01, 2022

Hi peeps! Can you believe it is November already?  I always call November the black and white month because where I live here along the Winnipeg River in Manitoba, the skies seem to be cloudy grey all month long, and enough wet, sticky snow falls to just cover everything but not completely.  In contrast to the dull white snow (because it is reflecting the dull overcast skies) everything looks dark and somber.  So to flip my perspective, I try looking at November as an opportunity.  Opportunity for what you ask?  It's a great time to practice my black and white photography, or to practice seeing values.  The grey scale is right outside my door!  😁

And that segways me right into my next topic.  Black and white is the color scheme I worked in all month long in October for the 31 day Inktober challenge.  I figure I'd talk a little about this year's experience - how things went, what worked, what didn't, and so on.  After that I thought I'd share a bit about the online workshops and presentations I've attended this month.  We are so lucky to live in a time where we can have access to all sorts of knowledge and experience shared literally at the touch of a (computer) button.  I don't think I would been even making art if not for been able to learn through the internet.  And I'll touch on what I've accomplished in my goals I mentioned last month in my newsletter and what's upcoming in November. Hopefully some of this will be of interest to you, maybe a bit helpful, or the very least slightly entertaining!!

Inktober

This is my second time participating, the first being in 2020.  Inktober is a 31 day drawing challenge started by Jake Parker quite a number of years ago.  He is a comic and children's book illustrator who wanted to get better at inking. He decided to give himself a new word prompt every day for the 31 days of October and challenged himself to draw and ink a picture for each prompt.  Now it is a world wide event done by thousands of artists and has even inspired all sorts of other challenges.  You can check it out here. 

The first year I did the challenge in a tiny sketchbook and my goal was to make each picture I drew tell a story.   It was fun, but oh so hard to come up with a new story each day.  Some were pretty good and some I'd call great learning experiences.  For 2022, I decided to use the same character 31 times and practice character poses (pssttt...secret dream is to illustrate children's books but that's for another post).  

I have to tell you I had SO MUCH FUN doing the poses all month.  Oh my goodness guys, if you could have seen me.  I was twisting my hands in position, my arms and legs, even getting down on my hands and knees while trying to see myself in the mirror, all to figure out what a pose looked like.  And the little girl (whom I have yet to name) let me know who she was, picture by picture.  I'm at the end of the month now, and I think there is still so much more to discover about her.  The photo at the beginning of this newsletter is for the word prompt "empty" on Day 14.  All the drawings were posted to my Instagram account and Facebook page during the month.

    

Samples of some of the thumbnails used to figure out poses.

I made my drawings on this paper.  It stood up to lots of erasing as I finalized the poses!

What I Got Out of Inktober this Time Around!

• Helped me to show up every day.  Even the days I didn't draw, my brain was busy coming up with possible sketch ideas.
• Made me dig deep into my memories to come up with fresh ideas or stories that interested me.  Helped me realize that I have a lot of experiences I can draw on.  This is a big one because normally I feel that I never have any ideas and fall back onto drawing the same old things.
• Learned to not choose the first thing that comes to mind - the second or third or fourth thing were often much better.  Though sometimes I still went back to the first thing.  There is never only one right way to do art, which is another thing it helped me solidify.
• Most of my pictures I drew from memory (or looking in the mirror).  I'm trying to find my own "style" or "voice".  Sometimes I was really stumped so I found references on Pinterest to help me through.  When I drew from reference I learned that I had to be real careful not to become too tight or perfectiony.
• Sharing some of my stories, even good feeling kind of stories, for me was a bit scary and made me feel a little vulnerable. I had such lovely feedback from people which meant the world to me. It also showed me that it is okay to share, and that it adds so much more to my art when it comes from an authentic place.
• Practice drawing. You can't help but get better if you work on it a little every day.

This challenge was fun but it is also a challenge which means it was also hard.  It was hard coming up with a new idea every day, even if I had a set character.  I fussed at making sure whatever I drew fit my character so that led me to struggles some days as I worked to make the prompt word fit.  And there were days I was tired, days I didn't have any time, days I figured I was never going to make it to the end of the month. At those times I put the work away and did something else.  After all, I wasn't going to get an "F" if I didn't complete an "assignment".  And as it turns out, I was able to pick up and complete a picture for each prompt word (I learned doing two a day for me was the perfect amount, no matter how far behind I was).  

Final analysis?  Inktober is worth it, whether you do every prompt word or only a couple.  One of the best things about this challenge is sharing the experience with thousands of people all over the world. For 31 days we are all part of one artistic community, encouraging and helping each other along.

On Online Learning

I came across a few new places online that offer lots of great information, tips and ideas.  Even if they are not exactly in your wheelhouse, there are great tidbits to pull out that may add to your own art process.

Free Friday Night Comic Workshops at Sequential Artists Workshops: I've been to three of them so far and they are fun.  It's done through Zoom and each week a guest artist gives a bit of a talk and then walks us through a small exercise. 

Illustrator in Residence Program at the Toronto Public Library:  The talented author/illustrator Sandra Dumais was the illustrator in residence last month at the TPL.  Part of her residency had her do 4 free online workshops on topics like "Going Beyond  Comfort Zones and Growing as an Artist" and "Developing Your Style".  Her residency is done, but I'm going to keep my eye out for more from TPL.  We can also check out other libraries and see if they offer similar programming. 

The  Society of Illustrators has a Youtube channel that has all sorts of free virtual lectures.  I like to watch the Saturday Stories series where guest artists talks about and read from their books, then show you how to make some of their process.

You can see the theme running through the types of videos I like to watch.  However, I've explored a lot over the years (especially since we upgraded to an unlimited internet data package - that changed my life!).  If you'd like me to suggest videos for other art topics like perspective or watercolor basics, let me know in the comments.  I might have some recommendations.

Past Upcoming and Future Upcoming

I'd listed 3 things for upcoming last month and I get to give myself two big fat checkmarks out of three: 

Inktober was the big one and I'm so happy that I was able to make 31 drawings.  I'm going to turn some of the drawings into prints.  If you have a favorite or two, let me know in the comments below. I'll be posting about them on Instagram and Facebook when they are ready.

I've also got some new designs up in my online shop at Redbubble.  I thought I'd do Christmasy ones, but I ended up leaning more into winter designs.  Plus I couldn't resist the swirl design.  Does it give you a hint of a story about dragons?  I feel there is something behind this symbol that just might suggest a whole other world. You can check it and the other designs out here.  

Design inspired by a workshop with Esté MacLeod. Here it is on a sticker. 

Re-start personal project.  *sigh* I'm a bit bummed that I didn't get further on this.  I think what's holding me back is the technical part of creating this project.  I need to know more about using Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher (which gives you a hint of what the final might be) and decide if that is the way I'm going to go, or if I'm going to do it all by hand which has me learning another whole set of skills. I know it all sounds a bit cagey and I'm not giving you much.   I think once I get settled on exactly how I'm going to proceed and really get into the meat of the doing, I will have lots to share.

November Upcoming:

The big one for me is making some prints of Inktober drawings.  This takes some research and a whole lot of "closing my eyes and taking the plunge 'cause it is scary".  I've never made prints of my work.  What I do know is I want to work with a local printer (local being in the city near me). Other than that I am figuring it out as I go.  

I'm going to continue to work on my personal project restart and add some new designs to the online shop.  

And I'm thinking of doing up a Christmas card to send out this year. I haven't sent out cards in years.  Life has a way of making you prioritize what's important.  My mom used to hang all our cards along the headers on the ceiling into our living room.  It was magical looking up at all those cards (there must have been 30 or 40 of them) and seeing all the different pictures.  Of course, I'm leaving it a bit on the late side, so I'll have to jump on that real quick.  

You've Reached the End

That's all I've got for this month's newsletter.  I probably could go on some more but I appreciate that you stayed with me to the end.  I'm doing lots of exploring to see what works and what I like to do, so it's great that you are joining along with me on this journey.  If there are things you'd like to know about or questions you have about anything, put it in the comments below.  I do like a good chat!

Leah

 

 

It's Fall and You Know What That Means!

October 01, 2022

Hello guys! Here's a newsy newsletter on happenings around my studio and life in general. I am hoping to send one out once a month or so. Hope you enjoy! In this newsletter, I'm going to share with you a couple of things that happened this past month which has been mainly getting my online shop running and thoughts about this, a bit on self-care, and what is upcoming in October. (Disclaimer: Announcements of upcoming items and events are always subject to life happening and changing my plans 😄).

AUTUMN IS HERE!

But first, I have to say it - autumn is here, or as we commonly refer to it - Fall!  The leaves are changing from the bright summer greens to gorgeous hues of cadmium yellow and rich golden browns.  We don't have much of those delicious yummy reds so I get a little thrill every time I come across a patch.  Of course with the changing and falling leaves comes the wind and the rain and the clouds.  It makes me ready to stay indoors and curl up with a cup of hot tea and a good book.  We've managed to get most of our garden produce picked and processed.  It is such a busy time but oh so tasty!  Only the carrots, beets, a few pepper plants and the Orange Sunshine cherry tomato plant left to go.  Hope they don't get hit with frost before we get to them.

STARTING AN ART BUSINESS - ACK!

Besides the loveliness of gardening, I've been busy with this brand new art business I've started.  It sounds so funny to be saying that.  Making art has been ebbing and flowing in my life for a lot of years.  Here I am being all official now! There are lots of bits and pieces to the process, and a WHOLE lot to learn and do.  What are my plans for the next 12 months, 9 months, 3 months and so on?  Am I going to do marketing? How? When? Where?  How do I track everything?  The questions are endless and it is so easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed and take myself way too seriously.   So every time I find myself in the "bogged down and overwhelmed" position I remind myself to JUST HAVE FUN!  That is actually the vision I wrote down for my art business.  You know how you're supposed to have a vision and a mission and a purpose and a million year plan?  

My vision, my why of doing this art business is:

"Have fun making art and share that fun with others."

That's it!  I haven't actually hammered out a mission yet - the overarching how I'm going to accomplish this vision.  Being a "learn by doing" person, I've jumped right in and will work backwards after I've had some mucking around and seeing how things work.  Once I get it figured out, I'll share it with you.

NEW DESIGNS

The most funnest thing right now is putting new designs into my Redbubble online shop. I've added six new ones this month. It is so cool to see them on products. Check these out then go see them at my shop here.

Cross-Country Skiing People

Tiny Moo Cow

Amira

Jonathon

Delilah Moo Cow

Tara

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!

Ha ha!  What I mean to say, is that it's about taking care of me.  That is a mantra I've started this past month.  The spring and summer were crazy busy. I let slide those things that help to keep me on an even keel - no walking or exercise or getting outside AND I added in lots of snacking and lots of t.v.  (Yikes!!)

My Weakness

Why start an art business in the middle of all this craziness you ask? Turns out while the crazy stopperd up my creativity, the left-brain activity of researching and setting up an online business was good for getting me focused and out of my head. I'd spent 19 years in another life working in an office so my brain has a bunch of experience at the logical, organizing type of work.

The business helped with my mind but it didn't help with my body or soul.  For that I got off the couch, put down the chip bowl and got back onto the yoga mat on a regular basis.  After a few weeks I am starting to feel pretty good.  There is a bit more energy to my days and I'm reaching for the snacks less often. The focus is not just on the physical, but on the grace and gratitude and the positivity that yoga brings into a session and the rest of the day.  Recently we've been walking after supper, which is great to get outside and smell the trees and the river and the beginnings of fall.

COMING UP IN OCTOBER

My loosey-goosey plans for this month (because they are still running around in my head and batting up against a zillion ideas) are:

Add some more designs to the online shop including some for Christmas!  So for all you early shoppers, maybe you'll find something there to make you smile!  

Participate in Inktober 2022 and that starts today!!  I did this in 2020 and it was so fun coming up with ideas to draw from the prompts but soooooo challenging.  My goal that year was to make a story with each page.  It worked on some days and other days not so much.  And at the end I had 31 pictures, plus I might have even improved my skills with the daily practice.  Some of those pieces have ended up as designs in my shop!  This year my goal is to use one character 31 times (and to practice inking).  I hope to complete all 31 days and plan to do as many as I can.  No guarantees of anything except a lot of fun!  I'll be posting these on Instagram and my Facebook Page if you want to see what comes out of my head and hands.

This is the character I'm going to use for Inktober.  She is sitting with her "mad" right now, but I know she'll feel better once she lets it go.

Re-re-start a personal project I've started and stopped a few years ago, re-started at the beginning of summer then stop again.  This personal project is really personal to me.  It involves memories and food.  I am even afraid to talk about it too much in case I jinx it, but what I'll do is post a photo or two from time to time on social media.  There's no timeline yet for completion.  That's yet to be worked out (I work better if I have a definite deadline to work towards).  

 THAT'S IT FOLKS!

You've reached the end of my first newsy newsletter! Thanks for sticking through the whole thing and letting me share a bit of what's been happening in my life and studio this past month, and the plans for the next. My next newsletter should show up at the beginning of November. I don't know what will be in it - more art, updates and maybe a recipe or book recommendation? It could be shorter (or longer since I like to talk!!). Let me know in the comments below if there is anything you want to chat about. In the meantime, have a great month and maybe even have some fun with art!!

Leah 

Back on the Blog

This is my first blog since 2015!! Wow!  I really like blogging, but life started to get really crazy and I felt I needed to cut back.  I could either blog about art or make art.  The making won.  Life is still busy, but not as much since my children have grown and left home, and I've retired from my day job.  I've been having fun on and off over the years creating and learning and practicing with my art.  Now I'm at a point that I'd love to see my stuff out in the world.  The first thing that I've done?  Stickers!!  I love them so much.  They make me smile!  

This rascally rodent is one of the stickers I created.  He is quite happy to be relaxing with a snack, something I like to do a lot!  But he is not only on a sticker.  He comes on many of the other products Redbubble offers.  You can find this guy and more at my shop here.  I've got over a dozen designs set up, with more to come.  It is such a blast making these things. 

As for blogging,  I will be chatting here from time to time, so maybe you'll drop by see what's up.  In the meantime,  have a happy day!

Leah