Creative Life & Peony Rose Papercut

The fun part of being a self-employed creative is that I got to be my own boss! I could choose to work in the morning, late at night or not at all!  Sounds great!  Hmmm .... yes and no.

Yes - I have all the freedom and free time to do anything.

No - I have to be freaking good at self-motivation or I won't get anything done.

Right now, I have managed to maintain a daily schedule to work on my papercuts. But a lot of the time, I feel like I'm only going through the motion!

And I also thought my life would be filled with all sorts of interesting creative activities, like beach combing to get inspiration etc.  Nope! I spent most of my time at home in front of the cutting table or the TV. (God bless * Game of Thrones *!) Honestly, I go out because I need food or have to visit the doctors!  And I live only a stone throw away to the beach!!!

This is getting on my nerve big time!

Well I think I need to stop here otherwise this will turn into a self-obssessed rant.  But then it might not be a bad idea! ;)

Anyway, here is something that I've been working on in the last few weeks.

Peony Rose (30cm H x 21cm W of the image) (11 3/4" H x 8 1/4" W of the image)

CU - Peony Rose

CU - Peony Rose

Hope you enjoy the cut!

P.S. Apologize of the greyish tone of the photos.  I'm yet to get used to the day of the time to take good photos

P.P.S. If you're interested to see my daily progress with my work, please visit my instagram (@hybridj).  I post almost daily.  Thank You! :)

Inactive Blogging = Active Art Pursuit

Though I have no new work to post, this is what I'm working on:

1)  Flipping through anatomy reference books to learn to draw body for my girl drawings.

2)  Practicing how to shade, color and paint my girls from online course / resource site / DVD.  A real struggle and it will be a while before I would have anything to post.

3)  Working on the Sketch Book Project 2011.  Will start posting some of the pages in the coming weeks. (For details, pls click the button on the side bar.)

4)  Very slowly savoring The Red Book by Carl Jung.  This is Jung's "personal (art) journal" where he develops his infamous theories on "archetypes", "the collective unconscious", and "the process of individuation".

(I'm kind of obsessed of Carl Jung's work and have been collecting his published work for a few years.)

"The Red Book" by Carl Jung

 

Hand drawn page by Carl Jung from "The Red Book"

 

Hand drawn page by Carl Jung from "The Red Book"

5)  "The Holeys":  Sitting inside the bottom drawer waiting to come out to play.

I'd like to say THANK YOU to those who leave comments in my blog.  You all are the driving forces which keep me going in this wondrous journey.  Without your continual support, I won't get this far!  :D

Deflation

Pepper, my doggie prince

Just want to let my fellow creatives and bloggers to know that I'm still here.

I'm a bit deflated (in another word pxxx off) at my inability to improve my painting skill.  So please allow me some time to get over myself and then, maybe, I'll come back with a vengeance or more disappointment ..... hmm .....

P.S.  The photo is of my dog, Pepper, from a few years ago.  But it is the perfect representation of how I feel right now.  ;)

Artists Links

While I'm in my drawing skill study mode, I thought it would be a good idea to update my blog to include "artists links" (at side bar of the blog).

Since I started to draw, I also began searching for artists sites and blogs for inspiration. One of the search sources I used is from contemporary art magazines like Hi Fructose and Juxtapoz. Another source is via other artists blogs. One of my favourite artist blogs is Gabrielle Rose's blog. Not only that she is an unique artist, she constantly updates her blog with other artists links.

The artists I picked are based on my own personal preference like subject matters, color palette, aesthetic, style etc. It might not be your cup of tea. Also be aware that some of the artists' artworks are quite confronting. And the artists I chose are from various disciplines.

Pls feel free to browse through them. It will be updated on a regular basis.

Something Break Through ...

A while ago, I mentioned that during the writing of NaNo, something broke through me. Though I still find it difficult and confuse to articulate what is going on, I'm giving it my best shot to write about it.

Back track - after finishing Wreck This Journal project from Jamie Ridler's "The Next Chapter" around end Jul, I found myself enjoying casual art making. So I took the plunge to learn about Zentangle late Aug. From there I started to post my tangle drawings on a weekly basis til NaNo took over on Nov.

But during this period, the urges to draw became greater and greater. I actually rushed through my NaNo writing so that I could grab my sketch book and filled it with doodles, patterns and some dream up figures. At the same time, instead of reading great authors' work for inspirations, I began to search the internet for artists' works.

I was scared and frustrated of this distraction. But yet, I can't help it. There was something about drawing which was strange but also familiar to me. I struggled. I resisted. But I always went back to it, night after night.

The timing was chaotic, however I began to think about drawing more and what it meant to me. This is what I learn. (Mind you, they are more like initial thoughts and will change over time.)

- Drawing had given me the kind of satisfaction that writing had never given me.

- The familiarity that I felt might come from the fact that all my writings (usually) begin from visual images I had in my mind. I follow the images and basically write down what I "see". Drawing is like another way to express the images. Or another way to describe it: I'm going back to to the "source".

- My upbringing had taught me to be modest at all time, but I had to say, when I looked at my little drawings, I was surprised of the quality of artwork I had produced. They were not that bad at all.

You need to understand this - the last time I drew, I was 14 years old attending art classes at school. I have no special art talent, just your usual average student. I was never into art and craft work. I didn't doodle on class works or homework, didn't sew or knit ... (you got the picture.) All I cared about was reading and (honestly) how to look good in school uniforms, i.e. "clip" the school dresses up to show more legs! ;)

So you could imagine the surprise or rather like shock when I found the compositions of my little drawings rather pleasing. I wonder where that aesthetic sense comes from.

It was during the last week of NaNo, I knew that I wanted to spend more time to draw and learn about drawing. However, I owed it to myself to finish NaNo. It was definitely an achievement and a milestone in my writing life. But at the same time, it took a lot out of me. I felt that I had bled my writing self dry, bone dry. Hence I had decided it was the right time to take a vacation from writing and do something else.

Right now, I'm exploring ways to draw and the subjects I want to draw. I'm not doing any classes but learn by actual drawing and observing / studying artists' works. It's extremely difficult, especially from someone like me, who has zero drawing skill and nil knowledge of art history. But gee, the kick I got when I overcame just one tiny hurdle, it's worth it!

This is the break through and this is where I'm now.

So my fellow bloggers and creatives, what do you think about all of these? I'd love to hear of your thoughts.