I've been really busy lately. With work, and with a new art project (more on that later in this post). As you know, I've been drawing on my way to and fro work in the train. It's been nice cause I get to produce new art work every week, and random strangers have given nice comments to me. Some weeks are less creative than others; on those weeks, I usually just read a book on my Kindle on the way to work (e-books are magic, by the way. I can have fourteen different books plus a dictionary all in one device. Holy crap, that saves lots of space in my bag.). On other weeks though, I produce lots of drawings. Last week was one of those productive weeks. :)
One of the things I was frustrated by, though, was that store-bought sketchbooks were heavy and only had one type of paper in them. I wanted flexibility, without having to bring three different sketchbooks out with me. So I came up with a solution. I used a small binder file as a sketchbook; put different papers inside it, and voila! My own custom sketchbook without the hassle of binding the papers and all that fuss. The binder, I bought from Daiso. [Related: Daiso Outlets in Singapore] This binder fits B5 papers. (A4 papers cut into half.)
Allow me to illustrate:
If I ever need new paper, I just cut papers into the correct size, punch two holes in the paper, and file it into the "sketchbook". The big plus point to this is that if I don't like a certain work, I can easily remove the page and throw it away. This has greatly reduced my fear of "ruining the sketchbook", which in turn, makes me far more willing to experiment.
See? Loose leaflets of papers on the left, and a work in progress on the right. In this picture, I have 90gsm white paper, white tracing paper for rough works, beige pastel paper, and black Derwent paper. Customizability, without being overly complicated. Kind of reminds me of the times when I was in school and we had to file papers into different binders....
Anywhos, here are the drawings I've been working on;
Above: Roses line art
Above: Bird Line Art
Portrait 001
Portrait 002
Portrait 003
Portrait 004
Portrait 005
Tiger in colored pencils on Bristol Board, Work In Progress.
If you follow me on Instagram, you'd have seen some of the portrait pieces! You can find me @havepen_willdraw.
So, the portraits project is the new project I'm taking on. As you can see, I currently have an obsession with line art. The tiger piece has been a WIP since 30th Sept. 2013.... (Yes, I do keep track of when I start a project). And it's taken so so long and it's not even done, and I am quite upset because of that... Ugh~ It reminds me of another one of my colored pencil art work, "Hazel Bird". It took me forever to complete it, but it turned out really good at the end. Though, I'd like to finish it soon. So I should get to work now.
It's just, it's really tough to get the motivation to sit down for an hour plus after I finish work and work on a big project like the tiger.... Smaller, easier-to-manage projects like my current portraits series keep my creativity going, but I really should be more disciplined.
Life's tough. With work, and trying to still do personal projects. Trying to stay healthy by eating right and getting exercise. Trying to expand my social circle. Hoping that the love of my life will come back to me soon, but trying to distract myself from him by engaging in other activities instead of pining for him... It's tough. All of it.
I keep reminding myself that life's not meant to be easy. I keep reminding myself of all the blessings that I have. I keep reminding myself that my Art is something that will keep growing, and evolving, and changing just as I do too. I'm trying to keep sight of my goals. And sometimes... Sometimes life goes down down down... But you gotta keep your chin up, sweetheart. Because you learn through experiences, people, and things.
Life's just a mish-mash of contradictions. You're one of those contradictions. The people in your life are bundles of contradictions as well. And you know what? That's what makes them unique. And that's what makes life worth living.
It'll be the start of March tomorrow. A new month. One quarter of the way into 2014. I can feel change happening. Things will get better. I took a review at how much my style in art has evolved over the past year, and I'm really happy at my growth. Keep you chin up. Things will get better. And to all you lovely artists reading this, keep your pens, pencils, pastels, brushes (and everything else that you may do) moving, and keep creating gorgeous works of art. :)
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