I have recently felt like I hadn't set out to make much art in the past two years. I've felt a little stuck. I worked as a retail caricature artist for the better part of those two years, and although it was a "creative" job, I just didn't feel like I was making art that mattered. Since I drew all day at work, I didn't take much time to make art at home.
I did learn a couple valuable things during that job, though. I learned that
parting with your art, this thing you have created with your own hands out of nothing, just comes with the territory of being an artist. I learned how not to become so attached to the art I made; I learned not to be precious with my art, and I learned to let it go.
Another thing I learned from being a caricature artist was that humor in art is important. I learned that I wanted to incorporate humor and whimsy into my art. I'm not sure if I have succeeded yet.
Finally, I learned that I really should be making an effort to create every day. Even if it's just a little.
I thought I wasn't making much art during that period, but the truth is, I probably made more drawings than I ever have in any other period of my life. That's pretty impressive in itself. Now, I'm not going to show you examples of the caricatures I did (mostly because I don't have many photos of them), but I will show you a look inside my sketchbook. My sketchbook is something I visit and create in almost every day. I'll be adding excerpts of my other journals on a regular basis here in the coming weeks.
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| Cover of my Summer 2012 notebook. I took it to Seattle when I visited last year. |
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| I was really interested in exploring hands. |
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| Menu from a restaurant on Capitol Hill. |
