July & the Giants
“If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.”
― Mo Willems, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
This month has been filled with all things wonderful, just like a fairytale storybook! From battling dragons of paint and artist dialogue to clearing up the fog in my little art world - this has been a journey of a month!
In the studio
These are some of my recent creations! I'm almost finished with 2 of my oil paintings, we completed various watercolour paintings during my livestreams, and I'm halfway through illustrating the drawings for my Humpty Dumpty storybook. I'm really excited to take on some new oil paintings in the next month or so.
Inspirations & Reflections
Something that's inspired me so much this month has been FUR! Yes, fur! Fluffy, voluminous, soft and hairy fur! I chose to draw a beautiful yak this month during one of my livestreams and would really love to create more artwork in this dreamy, soft style.
One of the biggest challenges I've faced recently was learning to manipulate watercolour properly. It's such a temperamental medium that can be used in so many different ways. I felt that the paint was controlling me, pushing me to and fro, constantly bossing me around. As I practised more and more I started to understand how wet the paper should be to achieve a certain spread, or how to get the paint to create sharp or soft edges. The paint and I kept knocking heads together until I started feeling like I had the upper hand. Consistent practise over the past few months has led me feeling a lot more comfortable using watercolours and feeling more in control of the process.
Since I started livestreaming my art last September, one thing that's really been a struggle has been finding a consistent schedule. Sticking to a schedule is so important as a freelancer and it can be tricky to balance. Originally I was streaming in my evenings and trying to get other tasks done throughout my day. Over time I found it got harder and harder to find energy for streaming and creating art in the evenings because I'd spend all day working. I found that the best time for me to be creative was during the day.
My current goal for the upcoming months is to keep reviewing my art style and honing it in. I've updated my portfolio recently which allowed me some time to reflect on how my style has progressed over the past year. I've created many pieces over this time period, so it was interesting to see how it stayed consistent and how it evolved. An artist's style is something that's ever-evolving and requires constant attention to detail with every piece. I find myself asking questions like: "Why am I drawing this creature or character?" "Why do I draw faces / eyes / ears / hands this way?" "How do these colours add to this piece and the overall collection of my pieces?" "Why do I use the colours I do?" These are all questions that drive each and every piece of my work, often-times to the point of getting in the way of an artwork. That leads to the next challenge I face as an artist - prioritising creating over analysing. I can easily get bogged down analysing a piece so much before starting that I fill the blank paper with anxiety rather than a beautiful piece of art. Livestreaming my artwork and setting myself a consistent schedule has really helped push me past this.
A song I've been really into this month has been "Hangover Halo" by Gin Wigmore.
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it. The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” —The Little White Bird by J. M. Barrie
Events & Updates
Many of you already know how long I've been working on my Humpty Dumpty storybook. It's my largest project to-date and I'm so excited to get it finished. I've shared numerous process videos on my Youtube channel. The book will have about 8 pages in total once finished. So far, I'm about halfway done with the greyscale drawings! I've scoped out some watercolour paper for when I'm moving on to the watercolour stage, but at this point I'm solely working on digital colour mockups. This will be my first-ever finished children's book!
Featured Video
In the shop
I've added some new prints and t-shirts to the shop!
Share your thoughts
Thank you for keeping up with my artistic antics! If you'd like to comment on anything, share a quote or inspiration, feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear from you!
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