udpates

Slacker? Yeah… I know.

Hi friends,

It’s been a while, and I know this post is a long time coming. I also know that I promised myself, if not you all too, that I would be consistent in writing and showing the things that I’ve been working on currently.

Am I a slacker?

Well, one might call me a slacker. Or a procrastinator even. But I’m not going to call myself those things. Sometimes, as all people do, I get a little bit unmotivated and can have a severe case of artist’s block. Yeah, it’s a thing. There’s a thing for everything now. Haha. But seriously, artist’s block is no laughing matter.

For the past couple of months since my last post, I have worked on a few things, however, they were more on the crafty side, rather than art for my personal growth side of the spectrum. So yeah, slacker? Nope. Not this girl! And on the plus side, I’ve come up with a slew of new ideas. Actually, I think one of my new ideas is figuring out a way to keep my ideas in the forefront of my mind, and not letting them get lost. Anyway… I’ll ponder that later.

What are these crafts I worked on, you ask? Ok, so my 1 year wedding anniversary was last month. Yay me! And I made a couple of gifts. I worked really hard on them. My gifts turned out beautiful and my wife really loved it. Also, my sister’s baby shower is taking place next month, and while my mom is making really awesome progress planning and making seriously neat crafts of her own for the shower, which I got a sneak peek of yesterday, I made the baby shower invitations.

Now, let me express how cute and adorable my designs for the invitations turned out.
Ready?
Holy moly, they were so cute and adorable!! My graphic design prowess totally kicked in with those. And then I had them printed at Staples… Let me just say, their printing process completely killed the cute factor by like 15%. Things just didn’t turn out the way I expected, and I can honestly say, if there is a next time where something needs to be printed on both front and back, I will not send it there for processing, unless it is my ultimate last option.

Ok, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about art!

Whose art?

Well, no one in particular’s art. Just a few thoughts and concepts. I’ve been doing a lot (and please keep in mind that “a lot” is relative) of research and just looking at other artist’s art. It’s been making me very happy. As I look at the works of artists that I really like, I think to myself, will I ever create anything nearly as good as this? And will anything that I create ever make a difference in someone’s life the way that these pieces are making a difference in mine?

And I’ve stumbled upon some answers. The first answer I’d like to pose/present is:

No. Unfortunately, nothing I create will make a difference in anyone’s life. It’s a harsh reality, but the truth is if I don’t keep working on my art and letting it make just me happy, no one will ever see it, and therefore my efforts and hopes will be thwarted by my own good intentions. And honestly, all the good intentions in the world won’t make me finish the pieces that I have in front of me. Nor will those good intentions make me attempt to create all of the things that I can picture in my mind.

The second answer to the question, will my work ever be good enough… That one is a little complex but one of my favorite artists of all time sums it up quite well.

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.
-Salvador Dali

And in regards to finishing works, let’s always keep this little tidbit of wisdom in mind…

To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.
-Pablo Picasso

So to sum it up, create, create as you want, finish as you see fit. Perfection is an illusion, and no one’s idea of perfection is the same, so by that reasoning, create not for others but for yourself. The ultimate answer to both questions is No but also maybe and that only time will tell.

Sometimes when I am not creating, I am unnecessarily hard on myself and it’s a little difficult to shake off feelings of self-doubt. I eventually always do and it’s because my intentions are always to create because it makes me happy. If in turn, my art makes someone else happy, that will be an added bonus.

What now, you ask? Now, I continue creating. I have a few things on my plate. One of which I am actively working on. And will not reveal via this blog until it’s finished. I shall be giving myself a hard deadline (December 31, 2016) with it because I work better with deadlines. They give me no opportunity to relax. The other projects are marinating slowly.

Until next time, which will definitely be sooner than you think. Keep making art, keep living your dreams, do what makes you happy!

-Jenny

4 Comments

  1. If art is your passion and it makes you happy, why not set time aside daily to create and execute? Currently my passion is romance novels! Everyday I read them for as long as I can, they make me happy. It doesn’t take as much effort to lie on my back and read a romance novel as sculpting clay or painting but… Maybe this is apples and oranges but I feel we should make ourselves indulge in whatever makes us happy! It shouldn’t be, oh, if I’m moved to make myself happy today, I’ll do it – everyday, let’s make ourselves happy!

  2. Glad I got some time to finally log on to tell blog .. Good read now I want to see pictures. ..

    Love sis

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