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My first post under that hashtag in awhile!  Feels okay.

One great thing about this leave of absence is I’ve been drawing a lot.  Like every single day, sometimes for up to four hours at a time.  Just getting lost in the process, figuring out my style, learning little things to tweak.  I did a few paintings last year that I haven’t shared yet, but they were the first shots of houses I’d ever tried. I used a ruler for everything, trying to get the perspective just so.  They felt too…perfect, although that’s not even the right word to use.  But they were rigid.  I realised I needed to break up with my ruler.  Now I think we might need to get back together, but only a little.  Like, we’ll casually see each other and see how it goes.

Anyways.  Seeing as I am posting fairly regularly to Instagram, it made sense to double up and create a blog post.  Note to self – having copious amounts of time off really does help out in the creative department.

I bought myself a new sketchbook last week, and I’m working on my third drawing in it now.  Even on the third piece I can see minor tweaks and changes starting to take place, and they are making me really excited to keep going.  I wrote a set of base rules on the first page, and they are the following:

1. Experiment

2. Make MISTAKES

3. Keep going.

4. Enjoy the process

5. Grow.

This is for me.  It’s not for likes on social media, for followers, or for attention.  The drawing belongs to me while I do it, while I paint it and pay attention to what I am working on.  Once I decide to put it out into the world, that’s it – it doesn’t belong to me emotionally anymore.  I have no control over how it is received by the rest of the world.  For any aspiring artist who is just starting out – remember all of this!  These things used to paralyze me.  Don’t let them!

Happy friday.  Go draw something 🙂