By day, I'm a photo editor and while it may seem like a glamorous job it can often be tedious. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at images and feel fortunate to be doing this as my career. It's fun to find the gems out there, especially when I can use them in a project. My eyes have become quite accustomed to filtering imagery and only picking up the choice bits. It's amazing how much my brain will quickly toss aside just to get the job done. I seriously look at thousands of images in a day so it's nice to slow down and really focus on creativity, beauty and quality.
I was thumbing through the recent Communication Arts illustration annual which always jump starts my creative twitch. It makes me want to clear off the clutter of what now is my meager studio in the basement and get back to my collages. (Above is a collage I did a few years back called A...Z). Alas, I feel this often but am not always pressed into action.
By night (and intertwining to day) I have a career too, and at the moment that is consumed by motherhood. I'm not begrudging this but embracing it, although it's very challenging. But when I get the briefest of moments to myself I treasure the creative time I have. I can't believe I used to have a whole room in the house devoted to my art making, what a luxury. Now it's a haven for the treasured wee-one to sleep, a cozy spot to snuggle up and read books and a stinky corner for that darn diaper pail. I'm relegated to small projects that can be cleaned up at the end of an evening so little hands don't investigate them in the morning. But it's fine; it's making me shift my thinking into new directions and trying new projects. And learning is always a good thing.
So here a little inspiration to linger over...
Andrew Bannecker
Mutt Ink
Penelopy Dullagan
