Ahhh, that was soothing.
Which brings up a good point.
Yesterday, I researched ideas until I came up with my direction.
I drew out the border, sized and resized templates, and cut them out for the center sun. Next, I traced each of the three inner circles and added a second border to each freehand.
I sketched in the face and reworked the eyes a couple times to get them centered and fairly symmetrical.
Finally, I inked the entire thing.
3 hours of work.
It relaxed me. I was hyper-focused. Chill, yet fully attentive.
I considered stopping a couple of times. Yet, I was compelled to continue until I could see Queen face to face.
Today’s experience was so different.
I started, already clear I wanted the outer border to be filled with alternating greens. Kind of like trees reaching toward the sky.
I wanted two blues for the sky. Hmm. Which ones?
Decisions were easily made as each color selection informed the next.
I listened to a podcast or two as I painted.
Yet think of all the effort, the thought, the focus that went on "behind the scenes." Then the ease of bringing it to life today.
So many projects are like this. (I have about 4 in the “before/yet unseen” stage.) And the finishing touches look so easy — and they are! But that’s because all the tough stuff has been done.
So I’m encouraging myself here … there’s no easy, fun, colorful part without the wrestling, struggling, deciding, erasing, and backtracking that comes while creating something worthwhile.
Is that your experience too?
8" x 8", acid free paper