Last week I wrote about feeling burnt out, so I purposely made some time to calm my buzzing brain with some chill drawing time this week. Solving the visual puzzle of an illustration is so soothing to me. I love getting totally immersed in the drawing process. The repetitive parts become meditative. I get to experiment with different colors, textures, layouts—and eventually there’s an ah-ha moment when I realize, Dang. It’s done!
This image was inspired by a poem I am expanding on called “Temporary” — which first appeared as this very tiny zine, and is now is a bit longer and begging for a similar illustration execution as Pressing on the Bruise. Here is the current draft:
Temporary
Gentle fireworks rustle
alongside concrete and ragweed
and Queen Anne’s lace
binging sunshine
on borrowed timeSeasons go
subtle and slow
then all at once
A quiet reminder
of what has always been true:Everything is temporary
…
and I’m grateful
and devastated
and somehow always surprised
My intention is this will be the cover of a new zine I’m working on that will have multiple illustrated poems in it, including Pressing on the Bruise and Thriving vs. Surviving which I started last spring as a stand-alone zine and then backburned for a plethora of reasons. I felt like a failure at the time, but in retrospect I’m glad I stepped away to let it marinate. This new iteration has grown into a bigger and more interesting concept (at least, I think it has!). The new zine will contain a series of four to five illustrated poems and span about 40 pages. I plan to start writing about this project soon and take you along on the journey of bringing it to life!
In the meantime, I added some new merch to my store with today’s design!
Also, the spirit of spooky season, I wanted to share some of my favorite spooky designs. Order now to get in time for Halloween!
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