I've been having the blahs this week about my art. 

Thankfully, when I'm not having the blahs (I guess I could call it having the ahhs or ah-ha's) I put systems and schedules in place to help me accomplish the goals I have for myself.  For instance, I want to learn more about using Affinity Designer, so Fridays are my learning days and I spend time every Friday learning. Right now I'm going through a Skillshare class about that. I also am working on a children's book with a friend, and Wednesdays I try to spend time working on that. So even when I don't feel like it, every day I have something to show up to.

Last night, I was thinking about my blahs and having a grass-is-greener moment (maybe I should be a fitness instructor..working in a library could be fun...being a mail carrier seems nice...).  I then questioned myself -- decades from now what would I regret not pursuing right now? Immediately I thought -- art. I want to keep pursuing this thing I have with art -- as a designer, illustrator, teacher and/or whatever is next.

For now, I'm going to keep showing up to my art even when I don't feel like it. I've been doing it long enough to know that the blah's don't last, and showing up consistently always leads me back to the ah-ha's.

Thinking about these quotes are a good motivator for me when I'm in the blahs . . . I've turned to them for years.

This is also helpful.  An illustration from Gingiber...

Ok, pep talk done! 

In my last post I left you with a to-be-continued regarding a floral wreath of lisianthuses. 

  Well, I've since landed on a center for the wreath.

For awhile all I had was the bee, but knew that I wanted some kind of wording as well.... I could only think of trite bee puns, like "bee happy" or  "bee present."  For as much as I love this illustration I wanted some special words and those didn't cut it.   

Well, then in my church community group we spent one evening as women talking about the desire we have to unveil beauty.  One phrase from the bible study stood out -- beauty nourishes
"Beauty may be the most powerful thing on earth. Beauty speaks. Beauty invites. Beauty nourishes. Beauty comforts. Beauty inspires. Beauty is transcendent. Beauty draws us to God. As Simone Weil wrote, “The beauty of the world is almost the only way by which we can allow God to penetrate us . . . Beauty captivates the senses in order to obtain permission to pass straight through to the soul . . . The soul’s inclination to love beauty is the trap God most frequently uses in order to win it.”

Beauty is essential and misunderstood. 

 Flowers aren't beautiful for nothing. I feel in the context of this illustration the beauty of the flowers nourishes the bees and vice versa.

And writing this out makes me think of another tattoo design I'm working on for a friend. It's just a rough sketch right now, but it's reminding me of the beauty of a mother's body for her children (birth, milk, snuggles, wiping bottoms etc)

And our bodies help little bodies navigate big rocks.