Welcome to Art on Fridays!
Once upon a time I trained as a fine artist, and then promptly gave it up when I left university. I got out my portfolio full of artwork from Uni the other day (I needed my portfolio case to cart around mermaid tails!) and I understand why.
I created stuff that was really filtered through other people – it wasn’t really original work, it was always working within someone else’s frame work, doing what someone else wanted, using other people’s source material and doing things in the style of others. I was always really worried about doing stuff the right way, and getting good grades, but I don’t think that’s what art is about at all. You get good stuff from playing and exploring what you love and what you like doing and drawing. I think I might chuck most of my old stuff, or sell it for cheaps.
Nowadays I feel more free and more able to just do stuff for me, which is very new in art! I spent the last five years feeling like I should paint or draw or something but not actually enjoying it – because if I created stuff it HAD to be gallery worthy and amazing. Pressure much. Now I’m not sure I care that much.
I may or may not post every Friday. I kinda create stuff when I have time and when I feel like it nowadays, unless I am creating my rockin’ Tarot Card Portraits. But I will share on some Fridays!
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Anyway, this week I’ve been toddler-drawing and playing with colouring pencils! I always felt that real artists don’t use colouring pencils so I shouldn’t either, but pffffff. My pencils are SEXY.
I had a day off. So I sat in bed watching endless The Good Wife episodes and colouring stuff. I have a special silk-bound book for me to doodle goddess-stuff in. I was meant to turn it into an art journal, inspired by internet people, but I don’t like painting and finishing stuff in one go. I turn into a prissy art Nazi if I start painting: everything must be PERFECT goddammit, and I don’t like making my house more messy than it already is. So I doodle in fineliner, because it’s my favourite thing ever.
And I coloured some stuff IN!
Here is a picture of some kind of appley morgen fairy being thing. Not sure. It was originally meant to be a Morgan le Fey picture, but it didn’t really turn out that way. Maybe it’s the Beltaine side of Morgan le Fay, or Morgen the Younger – the sexy fairy maiden that likes to play and lick apple juice off her skin. I dunno. It is what it is.
I wrote Morgen at the bottom as I felt she was an elemental or seasonal spirit of some kind, and in our Avalon tradition we work with Avalon spirit beings called Morgens, so I popped some crows on there. I drew her about a year ago and coloured her in this week. Woop!
And here is a peeky at the deets from a mermaid poster I am making. Not sure what it’s gonna say yet, but I thought I’d colour in the saucy mermaid anyway. She is sort of looking in a shell mirror – it was meant to be a proper mirror originally but it’s not now. (Welcome to my art process – it was gonna be this way but that’s not really what happened and we’ve got this now.)
