Journal: Embracing The Artist At Heart

I just did a deep dive searching for lettering artists that make "illustrative, or decorated letters". After scouring the internet, I found a few but landed on an artist with an in-depth interview by Emilee Rudd on youtube for dribbble. Her work intersects illustration, design, and branding. Her work is decorative and does indeed remind me of art nouveu. 

I am an artist at heart. I fell in love with sitting down and drawing with a pencil and paper. I also loved drawing portraits, once I learned how to do so in college. Something has been missing lately when I draw though. I've been feeling rushed to complete projects and I am at competition with no-one but myself. Recently, I stumbled across Emilee Rudds work, she is an illustrator, designer and lettering artist. While I still want to learn how to do brand strategy I think it's something I want to learn to implement and do for my self and not for other businesses. 

I wrote a piece in 2019 titled, “enjoying the current path” but can no longer find it, but I did do a little more digging last night and I found a few notes that mark the time I wrote it. I was in NYC and in the subway heard someone playing an instrument. Here is a clip of the audio I found. At the time I was also taking this course called, “Open to Receive.” There was a lot of mindset work around this class. Shifting beliefs and letting go of things that were holding me back. We had to write about what we wanted our future to look like. You can read about that entry here. Over the years I've been learning more about what I love and things I'm not so fond of. I love art, I love creating with my hands, I'm an artist before I'm a designer, yet I love when the two cross paths. 

I love how ornate Emilee's work is, she uses color and black and white, she's mastered a ton, yet continues to be humble about her work. A quote she kept repeating was to be humble and to be intentional. I really have this desire to do an art show, and I know that it would be amazing to draw all my family and friends, and invite each of them personally. Here’s a thought, what if their invitation was a photo of themselves? Just thinking out loud here. I could also have a wall of just hand lettered pieces and verses that carried me through the project. 

I enjoy hosting paint and sip parties and I can see how if I had a studio dedicated to just that, it would work. I do believe there is a missed opportunity with paint and sip studios. They are focused on the party and painting aspect, but if the had dedicated times for artist talks, and collaborations even with the people they hire, more money, more connections could be made.

Anyway I went off on a tangent there, lately when I create, I haven't been taking the time to really sit with a piece. It's often rushed and made to be shared on social media sites. I see now, that I need to be intentional when creating and to put my best work out there. I know for the longest time I struggled with the idea that people didn't want to support me, however my belief now is that I wasn't sharing what I was doing and what I was going through. It's my goal to continue to enjoy the current path I am on and embrace the artist at heart. 

Are you an artist looking to connect? Drop a line of connect with me via email maybe we can make something happen.