lately, my work has really started to remind me of my mom's. i'm drawing animals in people costumes doing things that people do, if we were smarter we'd act more like animals and less like people, i think to myself. i'm drawing while i'm sitting in the sunny backyard, surrounded by mourning doves, finches and hummingbirds, ducks, dogs and cats, all of my "friends" that i've somehow lured here to live here, with food water shelter and a soft voice only for them. it's only natural that these creatures would make their way into my artwork.
nowadays, there's a certain way that my hand wiggles to make the mouse's or bear's hair, or how i leave the highlights in the eye as two tiny dots of white, there's a finesse with the line, these certain things, that remind me of mom's illustrations. i look at these pictures i've painted when they're done, and it feels like she drew them. and sometimes, it feels strangely like i'm not even behind the wheel, like she's doing all the driving here. it's a trance-like state, a deliberate intention with the work that i've never had before.
all my life i searched for it, something to call my own, some purpose behind my pen....call it experience, call it a signature style, call it a good teacher's influence or just call it an idea that springs up amidst artists block....sometimes, it's hard to know what you want out of a piece of art that you're about to make. sometimes, the pressure is frightening. and sometimes, when you don't know any better, you think too long and too hard about it, and it comes out all wrong.
nowadays, i've learned to just let the drawings draw themselves.
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