Wild Card! #4
Watercolor Self-portrait / Process
Hello my buddy-boos, and welcome back to Shit for Breakfast!— my newsletter of semi-organized art chaos. ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡
This week is my fourth installment of: “Wild Card!”— A recurring segment I came up with to allow myself some freedom in how I’m able to express myself in this newsletter.
Really, it’s a ploy to keep me inspired.
A Note on Finding Inspiration:
Taming the capricious beast of creativity is a touchy and nuanced endeavor.
It’s a feat that is annoyingly different for everyone because we’re all a bunch of special idiots.
I avoided coming up with an idea for this segment all weekend, because, you know… avoidance… procrastination.
The special sauce of life.
“OK, Fine! I’ll Make Art!”
Once I had finally waited until the absolute last possible minute, I sat down and got to work on this post.
I asked myself:
“If I can make any art for this post— where do I start?”
…
(Decision paralysis creeps into frame. I see it from the corner of my eye and leap for a broom, swatting it away while screeching: “OUT WITH YOU, FOWL BEAST!”)
…
After this, I thought:
“I want to paint,” which is an art I rarely allow myself.
…
Allow yourself? What does that even MEAN, Erika?!
So—I have about one-hundred-bajillion mental blocks when it comes to creating art because I need therapy like a normal person.
I “don’t allow” myself to do a lot of things because of internalized capitalism and, I don’t know, maybe just a confused sense of self.
I am an enigma! …but…
“I Did it! I Made Art!”
I finally pushed aside my neurotic demons and focused on what sounded enjoyable.
I wanted to watercolor, but I didn’t know what to watercolor.
I thought about what kind of watercolor art inspires me and I immediately thought of Lisa Hanawalt’s paintings of animals and plants.
I Googled her work and dabbled in some of her stylings to get the artsy juices flowing.
Then I remembered how much joy I used to find in figure drawing.
I regularly beg my husband to model for me, but he doesn’t vibe with posing for extended periods, which is annoying because Picasso got to abuse his spouses for art, so like, why am I even married, you know?
Then it struck me.
I can draw myself! Just like the monumentally less toxic artist Frida Kahlo!
I set myself up in front of my closet mirror, framed myself with my biggest bedroom plants, put on my pin-striped blazer (for visual interest), and started sketching out the scene before me.
This was really fun to draw because I love drawing from life! I love not having to look at a screen. I love making traditional art. I really should do it more often (but won’t).
Then I finally got to the painting. I really do love watercolor so much.
I took an adult education class in watercolor painting back in 2017-or-so and it forever changed my perception of color.
On the first day of the class, our teacher brought in one red rose per student.
She asked us to tell her what color we saw in the petals.
Most of us said red.
She told us to look more closely, to see the shadows and the highlights— what color is the shadow? Magenta, purple, blue. The highlights— orange, yellow, white.
She then told us to paint the red rose and to exaggerate all of the colors we noticed in the rose.
Would you look at that!— I did a Impressionism, Ma!
I was starting to lose my light and therefore needed to call it a day, but I really like where it’s at! I’m planning to finish this tomorrow. I’ll be sharing the finished piece with you all very soon. ✨✨✨
I kind of dread painting the individual books and other junk on my shelves, but maybe it’ll be fun— we’ll see!
Thank you so much for following me on my chaotic art journey.
I really hope ANY OF THIS was interesting!
Comments (Let’s Chat!):
Do you cock-block yourself artistically too?
(Why are we like this?!)
Are there any forms of self-expression you refrain from creating out of fear?
Do you have any advice on how to feel creatively inspired? Tips and tricks are welcome!
Listening to:
Love the set-up!
Yes... artists are the worst at getting out of our own way.
I remember reading Jessica Abel's "Obstacles for Artists for Completing Creative Projects" --- https://jessicaabel.com/engine-masterclass/
Wow! I love everything about this post. The commentary, the photos of the setup, the art itself. Thank you!
As to your question about what art I won't make out of fear, it's anything visual (drawing, painting, sculpture...). I can picture exactly what I want in my head. Inevitably, it comes out looking like it was created by a 3-year-old riding on a merry-go-round in a windstorm.