I’ve been making things again.

And it feels undeniably good.

Making art soothes me. I can literally feel my nervous system slowing down, calming, and settling into a natural rhythm as I draw.

I’m so grateful that art does that for me. When I was growing up, that wasn’t always the case.

It started that way, for sure. As soon as I was old enough to hold a crayon, I was using art to make sense of my feelings and relax. As the years went on, though, I began to feel stressed at the idea of making art. I wanted everything I made to be perfect. The pressure was heavy, burdensome, and honestly, sucked the joy out of the process. I found myself enjoying art less. My confidence also took a hit. I was afraid to make things, because what if they were no good?

I hate to say it, but I spent the better part of two decades living this way. I created minimally, and when I did make something, it was rare that I enjoyed the process.

Thankfully, I have begun to free myself from this mindset. I still like making pretty things… who doesn’t? But I prioritize art as a practice, and I try my best to separate myself from the results.

I’m having more fun, and I think I actually like my art more now too! My creations, once again, are a reflection of my curiosity and playfulness now, and I think that is pretty beautiful.

Art Lately:

Dancing Sunflowers 🌻
I grew sunflowers for the first time ever this year. 10/10 recommend. They brought me a lot of joy and were easy to care for. I literally gasped when the first one popped open and spread her little petals out. My gasp scared Adam, which tickled me. 😆
Falling Strawberries 🍓
This little project was done wayyy too late at night when I should have been sleeping. Ope! I drew these little guys from memory, and wanted to play with some new techniques, specifically a different style of shading and trying out the warp tool in Procreate. It was fun! I like the simplicity and sweetness of this image.
Spring Spider 🕷️🌸
I swear this little spider popped into my mind just begging to be drawn. I started this project in the Spring and just wrapped it up a few days ago. I love the way the web turned out. Drawing a web like this gave me even more appreciation for the tedious and stunning work that spiders put into making their homes. To me, this project represents caring for yourself and the beauty that comes along with that.
More of this? Sure! 👍
I love projects like this… Elaborating on doodles until they are actualized into something that feels complete. I tried to keep a simple color palette on this one (tough for me hahaha). I also added a new style of shading, and I like the result… Kind of organic, futuristic, and metallic.
Relaxed but in an energetic way. 🩵💛🩷
I made this after working on my pixel projects. I had just spent two days paying attention to every pixel in an image, and felt like I needed some loose, creative play. Most of the markings on this are made with the ‘old brush’ in Procreate. Once I uploaded it to Instagram, I was surprised to see how similar it felt to previous acrylic paintings of mine. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised lol. When it comes to art, it seems I have a type.