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Welcome to my blog , The Hare Illustratère. I'll be posting about my art process and journey as an illustrator/author here.

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Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Sometimes You Hit a Brick Wall

 

sketch of a bunny backpedaling in reverse.
©Diana Ting Delosh

Sometimes you're busy, busy, busy. Humming along, being inspired, productive, creative and then BAM, you hit a brick wall. OKAY not really, but it feels like it. You're in a mood and all you want to do is scroll on social media or binge junk, TV, food, you name it. Of course while you're doing all that you're feeling guilty because YOU SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING! And now you're feeling like you've gone in REVERSE, not only have you not been moving forward, but all this meandering has made you loose whatever progress you've made!

Sigh.

Personally, the above has been happening at an alarmingly regular rate. Part of my problem, is that I don't allow myself regular day offs. If I'm in the studio, I expect to create and produce something. This is all due to my awareness of my own mortality as well as the fragility of what we consider our usual. I suppose this is partly due to the pandemic. In the last few years, I've had a few unexpected losses of family and friends. That certainly shook up all my assumptions of my world. Which goes back to my feeling like I could be running out of time and I don't even know it. Mind you I'm healthy and up to date on all my shots. Still, there's that old saying if you're standing still you're actually going backwards.

What to do?

I've come to the conclusion that I need to plan a day off on a regular basis. In hopes that I won't be waylaid by my brain/body deciding to have a rebellion. Allow myself to goof off.  And enjoy it. Dammit.

HA! Right after I typed the above, I'm tempted to take it back and make it only a half day off but only if we really need it. 

But I won't. In the pursuit of finding balance we will give Goof Off Day a shot. I also need to remind myself that pre-pandemic and other current responsibilities I had a weekly errand day. But Errand Day back then actually involved, aside from errands, meandering off  to the library or mall or wherever to play a game of look.

Do you gift yourself a day or time off on a regular basis? Or are you stingy about it like me?

You can find me at:
Website: dianadelosh.com
Instagram: @dtdelosh
Post: @dtdelosh

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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Bye Bye 2017

Can't say I'm sorry to see 2017 go.  Like any year it had it's good and bad and meh moments.

Had a lovely challenging illustration commission that I hope to be able to share... soon. Challenging because while it involved animals in costumes, YAY, it also involved a lot of detailed backgrounds and architecture. This project has taught me to truly respect illustrators that excel in backgrounds, especially urban scenes. As always, hope to acquire more fun illustration commissions in 2018.

It was also the year I became more political. Previously, I had always felt that my political views were private and I didn't talk or share much about it on social media. After all you didn't want to offend a potential buyer or client with your personal beliefs. However 2017 was different and I did share my views more openly. My feeling is that you can't be silent when you see things heading in the wrong direction. Did I loose out on any jobs, commissions or sales??? Not that I noticed. I did tire of seeing my twitter feed overtaken by political tweets rather than lovely art. Unfortunately, I fear there will be 3 more years of watching the planet being parceled off to line a few greedy pockets and other evils.

In 2017 I got excited about quite a few art challenges BUT I ended up not fulfilling most of these. Which made me a bit sad. I end 2017 with a long trail of unfinished personal art.  Granted, I had real paying work deadlines. Good excuse not to be distracted by personal art projects. I'm not complaining. I need those paying projects. Rather I'm annoyed that I couldn't figure a way to balance my financial and my creative needs. Definitely need to work on that.

Only did one postcard campaign in 2017. I usually do 2 if not 3. The problem with commissions that you can't share is that it's makes self-promotion harder. Another reason to figure out the balance between paying work and nonpaying. Personal art is where you make your discoveries and build your future and hopefully your fortune. Here's to returning to 3 postcard mailers in 2018 and more  creating and submitting

Made a huge art process discovery. I need to sketch, ink, paint, Photoshop something every week. So if I'm working on the sketch phase of a BIG project, to keep me in top form I need to also be doing "warm-up inks, paintings, Photoshop art" on the side. That way when the sketch phase is done I can move on to the ink phase without going through the I forgot how to... moment first. Less redos and more doing.  I know a bit of a duh, obvious idea but a big revelation to me and my art process. I should probably add creative writing to the weekly mix for 2018 too.

Wishing All a Happy, Healthy, Creative , Prolific, Productive and Prosperous 2018!

Illustration blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com
twitter: @dtdelosh

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