I feel this.

I just had to share this artwork. It so perfectly tells the story of my life at this moment.
"Hell or High Water"
Laura Bifano
http://biffno.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=0#/d493ytj

Website Blues

Ugh. Im slowly moving forward on my newly designed website. Things are going pretty much according to plan, but there are a couple of things I cant seem to get quite right, and a couple of things I want to do, but might not be able to do.

I have serious limitations where web design is concerned. I dont know HTML and codeing, and I know that if I knew this it would be a lot easyer to get exactly what I want. Plus, im poor so I cant hire someone who knows this stuff to do it for me (which would be ideal!).

Anyway, im getting closer to the re-launch. Step by agonizing step.

Creativity?

I often have moments (and I think all artists do), when I look at another artist and wonder how they can have such great ideas. Then, I wonder why my ideas are so boreing.

The grass is always greener right?

The artists that I really admire always seem to have lots of creativity and imagination. Tackling subjects that seem so much bigger than the real world, and giving them a style that is a little left of center. I love fantasy for this reason. Its totally made up. Who can make that stuff up?! Where do those ideas come from? From the outside it seems like a really magical process. Just as magical as the finished artwork.

I have to battle my own sense of the mundane. Thinking that my own work is to reality based, and to simple.

Im being too hard on myself of course, aren't we all like that.

Im pretty sure William Morris felt the same way when he compared himself to some his contemporaries like Dante Gabrielle Rossetti. Morris is one of my absolute favorite graphic designers. He did things with simple flowers and plants that made them so much greater than what they were in real life, and yet showed how amazingly inspirational they were. Its such an interesting juxtaposition. A wild rose is so fascinating, so simple, so run of the mill when you see it everyday. Yet, so complex, so whimsical, so beautiful it could stop your heart. Who wouldnt want to reflect that in their art.

Is this the cross we all have to bare as artists? Constantly trying to be as good as nature? That wierd and wonderous realm where everything is possible, even when its impossible.

Always striving to be better, to be grander, and more original?

Am I just thinking too much?

Maybe its okay to be boreing.

Finally!

I have finally started painting again. Whew! That was a long hiatus, but well worth it as far as I am concerned.

I am not putting any pressure on myself. Just talking it one day at a time and not trying to be a super woman, churning out the work, but at the same time its good to get brush to canvas again.

I really needed that break. Its good to recharge.

I have all my other commitments taken care of, so there are no horrible deadlines looming over my head. I finally feel like I have some time to take some time (if that makes any sense).

I might take a little break from my ATC's and give those a rest too. Not as long though. Just a few weeks. :)

Canada Post Sucks!

Oh the Summer is going by so fast! I have totally been neglecting my blog.

Canada Post is on strike - still - and that has put the kybosh on all my mail-art plans. Swaps are delayed, im not getting any mail, cant mail out, and my Etsy Shop is also suffering because of the strike. Its just too expensive to use other companies, so I just have to wait it out. I appoligize to everyone around the world who probably doesnt know about the strike, and becomes an innocent victim.

I have a lot of work to do still. Lots of projects on the go, and I just cant seem to manage my time as well. I blink and weeks go by. How does one slow time down?

New artwork to be posted soon. Promise.

Get Motivated

I just havent had that feeling, that desire to be truely creative. I wouldnt call it an Artist Block, because I still have lots of ideas, and inspiration. When it comes to actually getting down to it my motivation evaporates.

I have lots of excuses. An above average work shedule, crappy weather, my house is getting a fresh coat of paint, but really I have to be honest because I think the real reason is still the lingering effect of my Grandmothers passing. I have been thinking about it quite a bit and its interesting how these kinds of things can truely change a person. I feel changed. Fundamentally. I dont know how though and in what ways, which is why I just cant bring my self to paint.

Now that all being said I am still really, really enjoying my escapades in my Miniature art cards. I love makeing them. I love being involved in IllustratedATC's and joining themed swaps, and doing custom trades. Its a real joy, and I am very fulfilled by it artistically. Maybe that more than anything is the real reason I havent tackled a canvas in 4 months.

4 months. That doesnt sound like that long of a time when I write it down. It certainly feels much longer. I am always very consious of the timeline of my year. They have been going by so fast lately. I watched Oprah's interview with Shirley Mclean the other week, and Shirley talked about our spiritual sense of SPEED. Of the world moving so fast, and it was so true. Thats exactly how I feel. Its like im standing in an energy wind tunnel and its all moving so fast, and im being swept along with it.