I’m really happy with how this illustration turned out, but before all the pieces came together to make this illo I had a very different vision for what this was suppose to look like. Sometimes I feel with my art that I am just along for the ride, I’m following its lead, and well eventually I end up somewhere completely new with a different perspective. Slowly but surely I am learning to give into the flow and stop fighting for that vision I thought I had, because sometimes a new perspective is what I was looking for all along.

I’ve had no routine here with posting. I have been feeling oddly disconnected from a lot of things, including my creativity. I managed to spend some time (not enough) in my studio this past weekend. I was all excited after taking a trip to the art supply store and picking up a few new brushes, and paper, and paint. I had also ordered some larger sheets of paper a few weeks ago and those have been sitting in my studio untouched. As I sat staring at the blank page before me I realized that I was having trouble starting, as I was scared. Scared of not being good enough. It crept up on me, and I found it interesting that I was actually worried about messing up on these nice sheets of paper I had just sitting there.

So I painted a little, did illustration friday, and then decided to just go for it. Try something new already. I have been playing around with these new monoprint inks I got, and am loving the outcome but feeling I still need to practice the technique a bit. Here is one of my first monoprints.

As I was trying to figure out how I could work on a larger scale, since my acrylic board is not large enough, I decided to just put the ink right down on the table.

Then I made the print, and was actually happy that I gave this technique a try, as I am excited about the possibilities. Here is the monoprint…

I then added some color, and went over some of the lines for more definition. I think I will be doing a bit more to this before I call it done. The paper is ivory colored, which creates a nice warm feeling to this piece.

So I am very happy I just went for it, and it actually feels like I am slightly less stuck now, can’t say I feel a huge shift but something slightly moved. I guess I’ve been having trouble finding inspiration, and figuring out just what it is I want to create!

Tried something a little different with this one. Two more to go, can you guess which bug I’ll do next?