Drawing, Thinking, Coloring

I recently signed up for Marisa Haedike's (Creative Thursday) e-course In the Fish Bowl :: Life as an Artist. Online.  Wow!  We are on week one and my head is already spinning (in a good way)!  She and the other members in the class have given me so much to think about.  I feel changed.  Seriously.  Does that sound crazy??  It has only been a few days!  I can't really explain it.  Maybe it is simply that I slowed down long enough to give some serious thought to my life as an artist.  I wake up every day so excited to get to work but it wasn't until I slowed down long enough to listen to Marisa's first podcast that I realized what a rush I am always in.  Always.

Marisa posed some great questions for us to think about and as I thought about my answers this past week I realized how little thought I put into my artistic life.  It isn't that I am not thoughtful about my work because I am, but I work so fast and frantically that I rarely slow down.  I go from one project immediately to the next and I almost always feel like I am struggling to keep up and that I can't get enough done.  The funny thing is, I am the one imposing the deadlines on myself in most cases, so this frantic pace is completely of my own making. I always feel like I need to do more, work harder, finish more things, get more jobs, sell more work- all of that.  That isn't necessarily a bad thing.  But after listening to the first course, I suddenly felt calmer and more relaxed about everything.  Maybe it was just the calm tone of Marisa's voice!

Marisa's classes are audio podcasts and at first I felt confused because I wanted something to look at, some visuals to accompany her soothing voice.  Then she explained that the reason she chose to do audio courses was so that we could create while listening.  What a great idea!  I started on the drawing you see above while listening to the first class.  When the class ended, I kept the room silent and continued to draw while I thought about Marisa's words.  It was such a lovely experience.  I felt calm.  I felt comfortable.  I felt happy.  And I didn't feel rushed.

As I do with most of my drawings I scanned it in to the computer and digitally colored it.  I love the results and this print will always be special to me because I feel like it represents the beginning of a journey. Here are the colored results:

These prints all available for purchase in the shop.

I hope your week is going well!  I'm looking forward to Thursday and our second class!

Comments

[Ivy]

Hi Jenean,
I love your design! I am also in Marisa's class - a fellow fishie nice to meet you! I so can relate to always running, rushing and working (thus the title of my blog Ivyallover - haha) I felt the same way after listening to the 1st class - a sense of calmness. I just completed a prior class with Marisa where she discusses the importance of sleeping and even napping - there's no way someone like me can nap let alone sleep! LOL but something to think about ;-) BTW when you scan in your drawings what program do you use for color? Photoshop or do you redraw your drawing in illustrator and then color in illustrator? Do you redraw your scanned image in or use the scan itself? Just wondering ;-)

[daisy janie]

Your sentiments about Marisa's podcast actually started to relax me a little bit - a spillover effect. I feel much the same way you do and tend to justify by saying, "As soon as I get x, y and z done, I can take on a normal schedule." Never seems to happen. I will have to find some podcasts to enjoy while I create...maybe that will help me be more in the moment. Gorgeous new prints!!!!!!

[Kim]

Hello! I am in the fish bowl e-course with you and wanted to pop in to meet you. I do so ever love these prints! Nice work! Thanks for your thoughts on the class with Marisa. I was ready with pencil and paper to take the class. I just got to get in the groove of this new e-course thing...LOL! Thanks for the ideas. I have really enjoyed checking out our blog! Kim

[Amber Dusick]

This is beautiful and somehow DOES capture the podcast! Curly, friendly, positive radiance perhaps? I didn't create while listening, as I can't take my laptop out into dusty clay land but I did sketch some. I love seeing your original drawing and then how you transform it. So inspiring, it makes me look at my computer in a whole new way.

[Jenean Morrison]

Hi Ivy, Kim and Amber! Nice to be taking this class with you! Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for the nice comments!

And hello, Daisy Janie! Always nice to get a comment from you!

Ivy, I'm glad you asked about how I do the drawings. I scan them in as tiff files, then turn them into jpegs, place them in Illustrator and use the "live trace" and "live paint" functions. The trouble is that by doing it this way, the nuances of the image can be taken away. But because anchor points are created I go in and try to smooth out the lines and take them back to their original state. This can be time-consuming but it is my favorite way to work. I kind of like tedious work.

I am sure there is a better way to do it. In the past, I scanned them in and took them into Photoshop and used the paint bucket to fill the areas. I don't know why I switched. When I tried that recently it didn't work so well so I went back to this way. I would LOVE to hear suggestions from anyone happening to read this! I have a feeling I am doing it the hard way! For smaller drawings I have placed the image then traced it. Something like this would be tough to do that way. I'm very open to suggestions!

[clem]

I discourage to find 3 yards of fabric California dreaming white. Know you or I can buy it?
Thanks, I live in France.