I haven't written in a while but it by no means because I havent been making art. On the contrary, I have been working on a few things simulteniously and got so into it that I just had no time to write about it. Having some time to kill at the doctors I can finally fill you in.
For one I have been working on a pencil drawing series dedicated to Spirit Animals of the Native American Horoscope. It began as a single exercise for myself to improve my pencil drawing skills as well as get a better understanding of value relationships within compositions and very quickly grew into a full on project which Iam really enjoying and even thinking of recreating in color. The horoscope consists of Bear, Wolf, Beaver, Deer, Snake, Salmon, Otter, Owl, Woodpecker, Falcon and Raven. With such diverse range of animals I get to us my hand at drawing different textures and practice various mark makings. When I finish my Bear today I will be half way through the horoscope :). You can check the finished artwork on the website which underwent a little make over.
Another self inflicted project I have been working on is t-shirt designs. This one proved itself very time consuming and slow moving. The designs will be avaible on demand through threadless.com and printed on tshirt, hoodies and tote bags. I will share the link to my shop as soon as I get everything up and running.
Aside from these projects I have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on the past year and came to realize a few things which I believed proving to be of significant value to me.
I have a very difficult time accepting failure and I had failed a lot through out the year. I didn't get in into any competitions or residencies I have applied for and been such a sour looser that it prevented me from genuantly congradualting my friends on their victories and to appreciate the things that I did achieve such as getting into graduate school. I can't say that this realization came easy to me - it's hard to admit that you are worse than you imagine yourself to be but I am glad it finally hit me in the head. My big ego needed to learn humility. Along with patience and acceptance.
So Iam learning to be humble. Iam learning to be inspired by people who are greater than me without competition or comparison. There is always someone who is more talented and skilled. All I can do is to be the best version of myself that I can be. And so Iam learning to do just that.