Inspire me Sunday : today's reminder

Today's reminder :)

It took me several years before I actually learned this truth but it seems that I still have to remind myself from time to time. I guess it's because we, human, always want to be perfect. It's in our nature, an impossible need that brings us great suffer. As Salvador Dali said, "Have no fear of perfection, you will never reach it!."

Note to self : Don't seek for perfection, seek for joy of creating.
Have a merry Sunday :)

Art swap : Merry Girl in the flower garden

Last year I had a chance to meet wonderful ladies through Creative Courage facebook group. One day the idea of having a sketchbook swap group was posted and I immediately asked if I could join. It's quite strange for my timid self to ask something like that and it was going to be an international activity too. But then I was in the course talking about courage and creativity, I guess that's why I surprised myself :)

I have to say it's really one of my best decisions in life. We finally formed a small group around May 2013 and now is July 2014, the group project is done. Since we're still figuring out how to reveal the whole project, I'm going to go into details later when we are ready. For now, I guess it's ok to talk about my very first contribution to the project.

I remember posting above picture on my facebook page last year. It's the first stage of the page I was doing for the project. I didn't think much at first what I would do. I just sat down and drew flowers (my usual subject when doodling). Then a picture of a field of flowers started forming in my head and I kept drawing more.



I wanted to play with depth so I tried cutting out the flowers. (I hesitated for a second but this was supposed to be playing and fun so pick up the scissors!)



At this point, I knew how I would like the whole image to turn out. I traced the outline of the first cut-out paper on another sheet, lightly with pencil. This became a guideline for drawing another set of flowers. Then my character, Merry Girl, came in on the stage. I cut her out of another sheet of paper too.



I also cut out the second flower set then tried layering the pieces. The idea was to make it look like my Merry Girl was admiring flowers in the garden.



The last step was to add the big smiley sun and little fluffy clouds in the background. I was thinking about adding something more but I already learned how to stop when it's enough. I just didn't want to ruin the whole scene ;)

You may have a glimpse of adjacent page on the right. It's another member's contribution in this sketchbook and I can't wait to show them all!

Thanks for coming. I hope this bright drawing can make you feel merry :)

Digital work in progress : make art that sells part B camping theme

It's the first of July already. I remember saying it out loud in my previous post that I would try to finish all the Make Art That Sells class' 5 assignments by the end of June. Sadly, I cannot complete it all but I'm happy to say that I can at least manage to finish all the 5 assignments in the sketching stage. That means I now have all ideas sketched and planned out. I only have to use my time wisely to transform all the pencil sketches into final artworks.

I have started working digitally on week 2 assignment of Make Art That Sells class camping theme today. Above are initial sketches. The assignment is to design an illustration piece that suits baby apparel product. The theme is camping. I love the hand-lettering and going to use it as my main piece. Limited color palette of teal, orange and brown was what I thought at first but then I could add more colors up to 8-10 colors. Working on colors and layout is the hardest part but I'm working on it and absolutely enjoying it. I have to remind myself not to spend too much time on it though. Just can't wait to see the final piece myself :)

Inspire me Sunday : Tina Roth Eisenberg

My sister sent me this talk the other night. After watching it, the talker immediately became one of my idols. I have known Tina Roth Eisenberg as Swissmiss for years but just recently learned her real name and that she's the one behind Creative Mornings and Tattly.

I notice that I have become more aware of myself lately. By reading books, taking e-courses, I'm getting a closer look into my life and seriously thinking about how to change it for the better. Tina's talk inspires me in that matter too. She has two things I feel I lack (and wonder if I can gain it). One is the willingness to take risks, the other is an ability to have fun in life. Not that I never took risks. I guess opening Etsy shop and even having this blog can be considered as taking risks. But I feel there are something, more important things, I haven't had enough gut to do.

An ability to have fun in life is also something I feel I don't own completely. By nature, I'm a very serious and pessimistic person although I think I have developed the fun side of me with the help of my husband and older years. I tend to be serious in little things and sometimes blind to see things in perspectives. I mean, there are always fun side in everything if you look for it. It's a significant trait for a creative person, to be able to see things in different ways.

So, I'm going to keep this talk in mind. There are risks I have always wanted to take for ages. One of them I'm planing to take tomorrow :D. It's not a big thing but hopefully can be the first comforting step leading to bigger ones.

About to have fun in life? I guess I can just begin by not thinking about it too much. Yes, just to have fun on this merry Sunday :)

A week of weakness and a drawing book

This week has been a week of weakness for me. I have got a cold, not so grave but not well enough to work in full strength. I try not to feel guilty much. There were several previous weeks of productivity with sketchbook full of work sketches, a week of little work progress wouldn't hurt. As my mom always says 'Take it easy, things will come in your way.' I don't quite believe it fully. To have 'things come in my way', I have to create the way first. But then she is right, people won't feel joy in your art if it's created under stress and pressure. Creativity is really a matter of balancing. Too much pressure, your work comes out dry and suffocating. With no pressure at all?, the work will never come out.

So, I try to be productive in such non-productive days. Books are always my best friends. I choose to read something about art just to have a feeling I'm still working, at least on my creativity. How to Draw Anything by Mark Linley is a very pleasant book, easy to follow with beautiful line drawing examples. I like how he adds little stories in the instructions like how he suddenly got chased by an angry sheep while trying to draw a scene. His writing is very friendly and even if you don't care to improve your drawing skill, it's still a good read :)

Thanks for coming, I hope you have had a merry week :)

On Creativity and my artist date

I spent a couple of months ago reading  a lot of children's books, just to reassure that the world still has its naiveté and integrity. Spending too much time on facebook and virtual world especially when there were intense political conflicts going on in Thai social media could make me that pessimistic. But that is in the past, at least in the past of my feeling now that I can put all my focus on work and my future. I come back to be interested in the topic of creativity again. I discover 3 books I think they will have major influence on my life from now on. One book is called 'how not to think', a translation from Japanese book written by a Buddhist monk. The second book I almost finish is Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit. The last one is the famous Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.

The two latter books focus mainly on how to live your life in creative track. I have just read the first chapter of The Artist's Way in which the author talks about her two tools, Morning Pages and the artist date. When I read about these tools, I immediately saw how these would help me improve my life. Morning Pages is simply writing 3 pages of whatever in your mind when you wake up in the morning (I have already started my pages and may talk about it later) and the artist date is to find a day in week to go out and nourish yourself.


The artist date (I really like how she names it, sounds romantic and cheerful) is the same thing with what Twyla Tharp talks about doing field trip in The Creative Habit. The idea of going out is not a new idea. Everyone knows when you get too stressed, taking a walk is the best way to get out of it. What I am quite excited is the idea of putting 'a date' with 'a goal' on my weekly calendar. The 2 words somehow change my perspective about living. I always felt guilty every time I went out and had no work progress for the day. I didn't try to combine work and life together. Now I learn that I can enjoy a day outside and working at the same time with a sketchbook in hand and work brief in my head. It will be my brainstorming-sketching day. Sketches I do on the day will be continued in the following day at my work desk. I won't waste my time at all, instead I gain both work progress and spiritual healthiness from a good cup of coffee or a nice fresh air outside :D

I have always thought that I'm quite creative. But that is just in term of my art making, I have just realized that I'm not that creative on how to spend my life happily at all. Living creatively will be what I practice from now :)

The photos posted here are my second 'artist date', a small lovely coffee shop in the corner of an art museum in Bangkok. The very first date is going to Bangkok Seashell Museum. You can browse beautiful seashell photos on my instagram :)

Vintage typewriter and camera sketches

Sketches for Make Art That Sells part B week 3 : Scrapbook. Keywords for this assignment are vintage camera and typewriter. I enjoyed drawing both items but a bit nervous as there seems to be a lot of gorgeous work out there in this theme. The challenge is how to create a unique design, something fresh, different and truly represents my style. One way to find out is to just keep working. We'll see soon if I can pull this off :)

The hardest part of working on personal project is that you have to struggle through self-doubt and self-criticism everyday. I have to constantly remind myself that art is really a matter of opinion. You cannot satisfy the whole world anyway. The best I can do is to focus on the process, keep working, practicing and ignoring whatever that may discourage me. Easier said than done... but how else can we do? 

So, keep calm and keep working :D