Art

Goodbye 2022; Hello 2023

The past year was something I don’t have the language to describe. I can just simply say, it was hard. One thing that did come out of the challenges of 2022 was that I received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. I’m not surprised. I have struggled so much my entire life, and as most of you know, my son was diagnosed at the age of five. Receiving this diagnosis has opened up an entirely new path for me. There is much for me to learn about who I really am rather than who I’ve always thought I should be. I’ve spent much of my life chasing the next new shiny self-help (advice, technique, guru, blah, blah, blah) trying to fix me, but nothing ever worked. I’m not sure how to let go of nearly five decades of thinking there was something fundamentally wrong with me, but that is the path I’ve been put on for 2023. I hope you will join me as I navigate my way through it.

One thing I did on New Year’s Eve was go through the photos of all the artwork I created in 2022. I had numerous setbacks, including a broken finger on my dominant hand, but going through the photos, I realized I created more than I thought I did. I want to thank Karen Campbell and Lucy Brydon (Brian Froud, faeries, and Celtic Collective), Effy Wild, Erin Orion, Kiala Givehand, Sage Adderley, and Ida Andersen Lang for inspiring me and my creativity this year.

I put together a montage of my 2022 creations. I hope you enjoy.

2022 Art

Art · art journal · Moonshine 2020

April 2020 Full Alder Moon in Libra

It’s been quite a while since I made any art. Stress, illness, and numbness have all taken a toll on my creativity. However, a member of an art group I am in mentioned that we could view this time, this full moon, as a portal into a new world of our own creation rather than trying to return to our previous normal. This resonated with me instantly. Over the past month, an image kept returning to me over and over again with a full moon split and an opening in between. This mention of a portal finally solidified that vision and motivated me to start making art again so that I could put the image down on paper.

So, for my full Alder moon in Libra art journal spread for Effy Wild‘s Moonshine 2020 course, I created this full moon portal using black gesso, metallic watercolor, traditional watercolor, Golden fluid acrylics, white and gold Posca pens, and Strumpet Stencils.

It felt good to get back to making art. It felt good to get lost in the process and give my racing mind a much needed break. Moving forward, I’ve made a commitment to #the100dayproject to draw a face every day for 100 days. I posted my first face here on the blog earlier today. I’m hoping that making this commitment will help me get back to my daily creative practice.

100 Faces · Art · art journal

100 Faces 2020 Day 1

I have decided to try to complete 100 faces in 100 days again. I didn’t finish my attempt last year, so I’m going to try again this year following along with #The100DayProject to see if that will help boost my motivation.

Day one was inspired by Effy Wild’s Moonshine 2020 Full Alder Moon in Libra lesson. This art journal spread was created with Golden fluid acrylics in magenta and turquoise as well as Posca pens in gold, white, and black.