Where Has the Year Gone? I Mean, Really!

I feel like I blinked and 2013 disappeared!

As you can see, it's been 7 months since I posted anything!  Except for being included in a couple of community artist shows, not much happened for me in art.  I've continued to teach some art classes, although not as many.  Also, my mural is still sitting in Santa Maria storage.  Note to self - call the city and see if they have any installation details yet.  After all, they've had it a year.



Still Waiting...    (photo courtesy of the amazing Jill Martin)

My opportunity to be the "Featured Artist" for the Town Center Gallery fizzled when they left their permanent home in January and haven't found another.  So, my plan to spend summer painting turned into months spent up to my ears in homescooling and learning-related studies.  It's just as well - those issues were demanding my attention.  And, in dealing with them, I have found myself in a better place in the balancing of home, school, and art. 

Could it be that I can actually entertain

the thought of pursuing illustration more seriously?

Five years ago, the plan had been to start building a portfolio that I could start presenting by this time.  HOWEVER, then came the unexpected arrival of our 4th child.  This changed the timetable a bit.

My little diversion...

Discovering what's inside an owl pellet...

But, she is now 4 years old and quite the independent, driven, self-directed learner.  Our approach to life and learning makes room for all of us to be more project focused.  So, I see the door starting to open a bit - to pick up where I left off with illustration. 

So, I'm finally looking into joining SCBIW, 12x12, and eventually some online illustrator directories.  Those are things I had decided to put off until I could be more serious about illustration.  I can't do EVERYTHING - time is always an issue.  And, there has been A LOT of prayer this past year in order to discover what God's will is for my time - what, exactly, does He want me to do with the gifts and talents I've been given.  Well, it's time to re-evaluate, reorganize, and discover the possibilities.

So, here I go.  After all, I'm not getting any younger - I hear that clock ticking a little louder now.  I kind of feel like now it's now or never...let's see what happens!



Student work from summer art classes...

A Moment to Regroup and Redirect...

I really don't have any pressing projects. The "class" that I started the painting series for is almost over and I'm nowhere near done (of course, I knew that would be the case - I've planned about 10 illustrations for a 6-meeting class). It's more of a personal project, so it's "to be continued" at my leisure. But, since I haven't exactly made friends with acrylics, sometimes I just don't feel like working on it. I'd rather draw something "for fun" right now.

I've been thinking about a lot of things that have been competing for my time and trying to prioritize. I'll have to start putting together our next year's homeschooling plan VERY soon and get various co-ops in motion that I'm involved in. I think it's safe to say that I probably won't be posting more than once or twice a week (which is more than enough anyway).

I mentioned that there were possibilities for more hours and greater responsibility at work, but that's an area that's going to have to give. Soccer season will be starting very soon and I'll have 3 kids on 3 different teams - adding hours to my work schedule might push me over the edge of sanity and will make me less flexible for those things.

Besides, as much as I like my workplace, my plan is to ultimately move into freelance illustration - definitely what I would like to do as a career and more workable around family needs. I'm not going to quit the bookstore or anything at this point, I'm just not going to increase that load - in fact, I'm going to cut back to 4 nights right now. I think my family would appreciate it as well.

So, I've been browsing online portfolios and have been blessed by advice from a couple working illustrators. I think for starters, I'll finally join the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators - a valuable support network for writers and illustrators (published and unpublished). Along with that, I'll check into some of the free online portfolios. Later, as I'm able to add more work to my portfolio, then I'll look into some of the online porfolios that require an annual fee (but will boost visibility to get my work "out there").

Mainly, I'm reminded of the fact that I can't do EVERYTHING! There just aren't enough hours in the day and, now and then, I realize that I don't have unlimited energy (gasp!).

The picture posted above is obviously from the sketchbook (which is almost full!) - it's a return to the animal field guide studies at breaktime that I haven't done in a while. I'm becoming much more comfortable with rapid observation and rendering - I can work pretty quickly on those 10 minute breaks.

I also decided to do a detailed drawing starting from a random doodle - another thing I haven't done in a while (that's my "for fun" thing). I look forward to sharing that soon. It's always a surprise and a joy to see what comes out of those!