Tags
art, birds, bob marley, drawing, frida kahlo, moleskine, sketchbook
I finally, finally got into the groove of doing art things once Paulo weaned last winter. And then… the IU-Don’t happened and took away my mojo. Seriously kicked the life right out of me, that thing did. (For any of you ladies considering Mirena, word from my neurologist is that I’m the only woman in history to have such an adverse reaction to it. So, um, yay?) And then we moved.
Which is a long way of saying that it’s been a few months since I’ve done anything with a piece of paper that was more creative than drawing circles on it for Paulo to scribble in. Not nearly as long as the pregnancy-post-partum lull that lasted… oh… over a year. But long enough.
Just like getting my groove back this winter, I didn’t push it. I know that there are different schools of thought on artistic ruts – the difference coming down to “push yourself to do it anyway” or “wait for it to come back.” On a more day to day basis, I try to push through it. On a bigger level when I’ve dried up entirely, pushing it makes it so much worse and so much harder to work, so I’ve learned that for me – I wait. And one day… it happens.
One day I go to the store and buy a sketchbook as somehow, my old one ended up in storage, and then – I draw. And as we all know, drawing is the gateway drug. Glue and paint are soon to follow.
[ When I don't really know what to draw, I draw song lyrics. This was inspired not only by Bob Marley - but also subconsciously by Geninne's Art Blog, whose desktop wallpapers I've been using for ages. ]
[ It just so happened that I put the finishing touches on this while P arranged his crayons - and also helpfully, my box of brush pens pictured up there - so I took advantage of the free moment and started drawing what was literally right in front of me, which happened to be my Frida bracelet. It's important to note that this drawing is from the *bracelet* itself and not from the paintings pictured - so it's sort of a weird thing. It's a simplified enlargement of miniatures, not any kind of real copy of the actual artworks. ]
Every time I plow through the art ennui, I regret it. A lot.
Yeah, nothing good has EVER come of it for me. Certainly never gave me the urge to WANT to make anything. It’s one of the best things about not being in art school – no one can make me do it!
There’s nothing quite like getting creativity back into your life after the baby…by which I mean figuring out how to work during the nap effectively. I’ve been doing some embroidery (perk–portable and can go to the playground with me!) and the way my mind relaxes once I have that tangible project is amazing.
Another thing—we need to arrange a playdate, it seems you two are always in the area!
We live on the Back Bay/South End border right behind the Pru, so yes, we are indeed around
I’d love to do a play date sometime – afternoons are best for us. Playgrounds are good, but in case of crap weather I can get 4 humans into the Children’s Museum. Hit me up on the emails: Sonja.alves @ gmail