seeclairedraw

Patreon!

If you’re on my mailing list, you already got this news, but…. I’m starting a Patreon for my art!

For those unfamiliar, Patreon is a site artists and creators of every variety use to fund their work. In my case, this means helping me switch to part time work at my day job, so I can spend an extra day a week on art.

My Patreon page will be a place to get all sorts of art sneak peeks of larger projects I’m working on (like Boneflower!), reviews I do of art supplies and other fun things, and a great place to get some neat rewards for supporting me, too, like monthly or quarterly signed art print postcards.

Got your interest piqued?

Check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/clairewhitmore

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I’d love to see you over there. 🙂

Thanks!

Homework? For Fun!?

Since coming back from vacation in Germany, it’s become clear to me that my life needs to include a lot more art. And, most importantly, I have a loooooot more to learn. Making art is amazing, and the fact that I’m only scratching the surface of what there is to know about it is mindbogglingly exciting! How sad would it be if I were already bored…

So I’ve decided to get serious about making sure I keep learning about art in my day-to-day life. For me, that means homework. 😉 But homework that’s fun! Homework that I’m doing voluntarily, and that I’m designing for myself.

The lesson plan is very much a work in progress, but this week I’ve been focusing on value studies– something I often struggle with as my drawings or paintings become more complex. But solid values, planned out in advance, make a piece that much stronger. (And values that are weak, suck the life right out of it). So I’m practicing!

Here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been up to:

Random kitchen finds make great still lifes!
This onion has been drawn a lot now
Potential plan for a future painting

Learning (and re-learning, and keeping ideas and concepts and techniques I already know fresh) takes time. And energy. And it doesn’t always look very pretty.

But boy, is it refreshing to be back in the saddle. 🙂

 

The Balancing Act

It’s true for me, and I think it’s likely true for the entirety of humanity, that the hardest part of life is achieving balance between who we want to be, and who we are being.

I struggled with writing this blog post for awhile. I was afraid that if it wasn’t “puppies and kittens and magical art excitement” it wouldn’t have value. This is my art blog, after all. I should blog about art. But art is life.

Right now for me balance is hard. I’ve joked the last few months that my life goal is to become an Art Jedi (I am, and always will be, a consummate Star Wars fan). Something about the fictional idea of monks in pursuit of higher understanding (in my case, in pursuit of Pure Artness) is deeply appealing. Of course I want to be the sort of person who wakes up, meditates, and spends hour after hour in deep, meaningful art practice. I mean, when you put it that way, who wouldn’t, right?

Except I’m not an Art Jedi. And Jedi are fictional. And the sacrifices I would have to make in order to achieve Art Monk-status would be extreme.

I have a full time job unrelated to my art, a cat who I love spending time with, a garden I’m excited to start, and a host of amazing friends. I also enjoy writing, reading, and playing Pokemon, and I’m about to embark on a 2-week challenge where I only eat home cooked food.

This is my life as I’m leading it: not an Art Jedi.

This morning I didn’t get up and meditate and then spend hour after hour making deep, meaningful art. I got up, played with my cat, made banana-egg pancakes and started making sourdough bread.

But it’s still a good life, and I still make art (in fact, I’m working on my CC:Otherworld’s painting for this fortnight, and spoiler alert, but there are mermaids), and being an Art Jedi still lives in the back of my mind, whispering, “someday.”

Balance. (Easier said than done).

Your turn: Do you struggle balancing the platonic ideal you strive for with the life you actually live? What have you done to reconcile the disconnect?