It’s okay to wander – ruby charm colors
Back in 1909, J. C. Tregarthen, author of The Life Story of an Otter, wrote that “the otter is a great wanderer, who not only traverses long stretches of coast and follows streams and rivers to their source, but crosses hills and even mountains to reach its fishing-grounds.”
As of late, I am feeling like an otter trying to get back to my fishing grounds.
I haven’t gotten lost but I have been distracted. Rough times over the past few months (okay, maybe a little longer) led to an exhausting creative slump and my mojo evaporated. It’s on the way back, however, and for that (and for friends who have been checking in and encouraging me) I am very thankful. It seems quite a few people are experiencing a slump of sorts (at least from what I can gather from comments in the coloring world) so I am here with a little encouragement. If you have something you love doing, keep doing it. No one is going to do it for you. Carve out a little time in your day to pick up your pencils (or whatever other media you like to use) and just play for a bit. It may not amount to much at first, but it can wiggle its way into your psyche like a little fish and eventually things will start to flow again.
About a month ago, I started playing with a new design on my iPad after catching the tail end of a nature show about otters. The sketch started slowly and I kept changing lines and shapes, but after a few days of playing around, I got it where I wanted it. And then I decided to color the design on my iPad since I was out at my dad’s place and didn’t have any art supplies with me (or a printed copy of the design). I used Procreate with a few different texture brushes (and lots of layers) to fill the design up with color and more patterns. I had fun working on the iPad but what I kept thinking that weekend was, I sure wish I had my pencils with me!
After a long period of not creating anything at all, it was a ripple in the water.
A week or so later, I decided to duplicate the otter and work it into another design. This one sat still for a spell since I had a few back-to-back shifts at my part-time job, but I finally printed out a copy yesterday and pulled out my pencils. I used a few Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils for the seaweed and the bodies of the otters, then worked in some Irojiten pencils and gel pens. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed having those pencils in my hands again, and though I felt rusty, it didn’t matter. I just had fun. Until it started getting too dark to see what I was doing and my shoulder started aching but that’s another story…
The thing is, I picked up those pencils and reconnected. Which leads me to community. After having been absent from social media for a good bit (and hibernating from just about everything especially now that it’s winter where I am and everything feels so dark and gloomy), I was reminded how most of us need community. It doesn’t have to be big, but it does need some common threads woven through the fabric to hold it all together. For us in the RCC community, the most prominent thread is coloring, but it extends to art supplies and, maybe most importantly, the connections we have made with one another. After being in touch with some very good humans this week, the sun peeked out and feel ready to follow that current back to my fishing grounds.
I’ll have added the otters to my website and Etsy shop and now have my new Bunny and Bird design listed as well. Also, if you don’t have my LinkPop address, feel free to bookmark it. Thanks for being patient with me while I wandered off into the weeds, and I hope to see you back in all the usual places before too long!
Best wishes and stay creative!