A lot goes into making Art, all of my fellow artists know exactly what I'm talking about. You have this idea which could have been a challenge in itself because well, art block.The planning alone for a project can sometimes take me longer than making the actual piece. Then the issue of executing this idea comes into play along with finding the time. Even more issues can arise with this step if you are like me and work with a variety of different mediums. You putter around; stumbling and falling trying to get footing into your groove. Hours, days, or even months later you've finally reached the end of your project (this is also a feat because "How do I know if this is a truly finished work?").
When I finish a project I enter my actual "Work Mode". Photograph the work, make any edits needed (without altering the work itself), update my website with the new work, post to social media, and if I want to sell what I was just working on; create a new listing on my Etsy Shop. Each of these steps at face value seem simple enough; sometimes it can take up half of my day or longer. You're editing what you already have, making new content for social media and then editing that to be able to post. Often times a small part of me feels sick because I have to edit down hours and sometimes days of work I recorded to be a minute or under, which is crazy. Everything needs to be more digestible for my work to be seen so it's a compromise I'm willing to make.
The digital piece up top I'll use an an example. This whole thing started out as me wanting to work on portraits again. Usually, I gravitate towards a more stylized cartoony visual. This time around I wanted to do something more realistic. So I got cracking and picked a picture of myself that I didn't completely hate for reference. Days later when all I had left to finish was the hair I realized I didn't want to it to be a regular portrait. I wasn't in love with it and generally I have to be "in love" with a piece for me to feel that it is finished. So I shifted into my usual weird-shit headspace and fell in love.
Instead of just posting a process video up on social media or uploading my finished works on this website I figured I'd post a little more about my process. I'm not a huge fan of posting on social media. My usual posts consist of Art, vacation pictures, and my cat. You get a general sense of who I am this way; and for a long time I was fine with that. I've always felt that viewing the art I make would be enough. Where I am in life now, I have a solid idea of what I want for my Art. I'm realizing that giving people things to just view is only a small part of the whole equation.
As someone who loves art I find myself wanting to know more about the artist and their process. As an Artist, I see the importance of this. As much as I would like to not admit it, it's not all about the finished product when it comes to Art. The story of the piece and the Artist alike comes into play. Think about it, you're at MoMA and something draws you in. You're next step is to probably look that artist up. You'll see images of other works and find countless articles about them; you've found you're very own rabbit hole.
Wrapping everything up, I am a complete dumpster fire in human form and these posts will be a place for anyone to come watch the chaos from a safe distance.