At some point about two weeks ago, I opened up my iPad before going to bed and thought I was going to READ one of the books in my kindle. Instead I ended up looking at Instagram. I stumbled upon two different artists’ feeds and I got lost. Or found again. I found myself scrolling through image after image, and the longing well up in my heart to bring my own images into the world. To have my own little scroll of square pictures each representing something that had come through my own hands onto the page.
Only one other time did I scroll through an artist’s website late at night, allowing myself to be completely absorbed. Both times, I remembered. I woke up to something very essential in me that I somehow easily stray away from.
I woke up again. And it’s OK that somehow I forgot that what’s important is not what I do here in front of the computer but what I do with my hands on a page. How I push color around, play with letters and words, feel the texture of a piece of paper, and just get lost in my love of all the combinations.
So I started my own personal commitment – again – to making art daily. Not perfect finished art but actually the act of creating with total abandon. In my head I call it “use more paper“. Something about those Instagrams woke me up to the fact that I am quite stingy with myself when it comes to paper. I allow myself one, maybe two, pages per day. And who decided that? I don’t remember.
For the past two weeks I have been using as much paper as possible. One idea per page? Sure! Go for it! Feel the naughtiness of tearing out pages with abandon!
In addition to filling one and a half sketchbooks in that time, I have made these faces.
5050 Art 