Actually, I can’t stay up all night – never could, even when a project was due the next day and I’d put it off until the night before. My brain just doesn’t have what it takes to function properly after about 5pm. Coffee, cocaine, ritalin – nothing works. To be honest, I haven’t ever tried ritalin.
What DOES work, however, is interest. While I’ve always thought that the tactile arts were my “thing” (i.e. drawing, painting, printmaking), I have rediscovered the fact that being on the computer and using image editing software engages my mind completely. I’m not even good at it, but there is something about using (in my case) Inkscape that makes me want to design forever. Except that my eyes start hurting. The possibilities are endless and the tools, colors, toys and textures are all right there. You don’t have to go rummaging around in a drawer/box/shelf, hunting for the thing you were sure you’d put there, but it’s somehow not there, and 20 minutes later you have to order it online only to find the thing five minutes after that. My files are a mess and I can never remember where I saved something – was it in “ecomm” or “marketing” or “my paintings???” Or, now, was it on my hard drive or memory stick? Still, I can usually find it, and do a little re-org. My physical space is almost overwhelmingly beyond my abilities to begin to address. Total chaos, sadly. I have block prints stored in, like, 5 different places, and I can never find the one I’m looking for. Gotta scan those suckers and upload them to my computer! So that I can start offering prints for y’all. And maybe play with them on Inkscape!
What led to this tangent is my needing to design my own business cards. Operating a business solo, I am all departments. Having just posted my first painting to my Etsy shop, it dawned on me that I will need to have marketing materials. Yikes! The business card website was a total blast, and after 8 hours of attempting to come up with something, I took a break, ate dinner, and tried to go to bed, but I could.not.sleep, because I was thinking of all of the design possibilities! Which got me thinking about digital art, and prints. So. I think all that will happen eventually. Plus landscape paintings, plus a Kickstarter campaign and a road trip of the US while I make images and send them out. Yep! It’s all gonna happen. I suppose I should get to work on my back yard tree painting… cuz none of this is gonna happen without the art!
Thank you for being here <3
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