At the risk of smelling myself, I think I’m actually good at this art thing. Below is a copy of the scan I made of the other night’s work. I’ve cranked up the brightness and the contrast, so what I did is visible:

The reason I’m even publishing this? Well, after last night’s post (which was originally image-less), I wanted to put up something more decipherable. I haven’t been able to get any artwork done today — there were other things I had to do. I’m hoping to get back to exploring my gouache, in the next day or two. It depends on how quickly I can get the last of my classwork, done.

That class is nearly over (!), although when I get a burst of free time…I’m going to have to figure out what to do with it. I already have a good idea of what I want to do with it: reading, art, writing; but I feel like I work best with some structure — which is why I’ve been taking classes. Well, that, and the employable skills (if anyone learned anything). A plan for the upcoming days, would be nice.

(Just like outlines for these projects I want to edge into writing, would be nice! Giving myself a place to start, makes it more approachable. Art Journaling will also help me develop source material for larger projects; so I probably shouldn’t write it off as just being for myself. After all, drawing on scrap paper could be my equivalent of the Art Journal: something I feel has less pressure, because it surely will never become an actual art piece [and then it turns out good]…)

I’ve decided that I’m going to look into jobs that require art skill and/or writing skill. Getting into that, requires research. I’ve started in on it, but haven’t saved what I’ve found in my searches. It would make sense for me to actually note some of the things I find down, by hand. Handwritten notes seem foreign to working online, but they help. Compared to having nothing, they’re extremely superior.

I’m not used to looking for jobs that use skills I’m both good at, and like!

To get a job using writing or art skills, I’m going to need a portfolio (or two) to present to potential employers. I do have a backlog of work (although much of the lesser-quality stuff has been tossed). Unless I’m mistaken, I have an artwork portfolio already, though I may have to dig to find it. Or, I may have to reassemble it. I did just check, and I have a much reduced set of images from my Capstone class…I’ll probably want to fill that out. (Not to mention that I’ll eventually want to transfer my images off of last-generation jump drives.)

Of course, I’ll be doing new work, as well. It doesn’t make sense not to, when I’m hoping to use similar skills in a job setting. If I don’t like the work, I might not like the job. Start now, baby!

I’m thinking it will be easier, although much more tedious, to look at my writing output over the past decade: particularly, my journals. I may have stopped writing fiction after graduation, but my mid-twenties to mid-thirties were tough to get through — yet extremely imaginative. The hard part comes (largely) when you can’t distinguish fantasy from reality…which is also a large reason why I stopped writing: I would trigger myself, and it would seem real.

Artwork is somewhat more recognizable as a creative product, than are the things one tells oneself, which then get transcribed into hard copy. The brain has the somewhat annoying (but looking back on it, obvious) habit of believing itself in almost everything, until it learns to question itself. In my experience, I’ve had to pay attention to my somatic sensations to be able to tell when I doubted something to be true. No one is right about everything, all the time; but plenty of people never think twice about it.

I’m sure there is a lot of material I left behind which can be mined. I can spring off of it using fresh eyes and greater experience.

The visual archives will be more challenging…but also, maybe, more engaging. I already know I have photo notations that I never worked up into final pieces. That’s before sourcing new images, drawing or painting in the field, digital editing, etc.

How to balance these two things (the writing and the art), I’m unsure of, at the moment. It may become clearer, once I begin. I already have the writing practice of the blog, set up…but if I want to write professionally, I’ll need to both be reading and writing, creatively. Not just blog posts.

Yeah; how to divide the time is a significant problem. As is the question of what writing project to begin, first; which to continue to develop first, etc. I suppose I could schedule in Writing time in the evenings, and Art time, in the mornings and afternoons…and then read when I’m so blasted from everything else, that I can’t think…maybe in the evenings, before bed? It could be part of my daily winding-down time…