This year has been one giant kick-in-the-butt catalyst for practically everyone I know.  These changes have been a long time coming, and it seems like they are all going to happen at once.  I don’t want to count my chicks before they’re hatched, so details will have to wait, as things are in motion but won’t be really happening for the next month or two.  Doors will be opening, but that means that a few will have to be closed and this has been a source of some anxiety for me. I like to have a plan (even when I don’t stick to it) when I am facing big transitions, but all this waiting leaves my mind too free to mircro-analyze things with far too many variables to do any good at all. It’s like peeling a bandage off slowly, when I really just want it to happen and be done already– a deep breath, a quick tug, and then the relief of fresh air hitting healed wound. It’s all part of some lesson, I’m sure. Learning to cut ties with the illusion of power and control and just let loose, perhaps.

I have had so many ideas floating around in my head the past week that haven’t made it onto the paper I didn’t have time to bother with ornate details so I grabbed my 6B sketching pencil (yes, SIX-B, 2B isn’t the only kind of pencil haha) and clipped some newsprint onto my drawing board and let loose.  There is something really cathartic about being able to just get everything out of my head without worrying about being perfect, especially after a stressful week.  These poppies have been really speaking to me for the next big piece I am working on, this is the first time I’ve ever drawn poppies, but we seem to get along nicely, don’t you?  There will be a lot of sketching and scheming in preparation for this next one, and I’m excited to share my adventure with you.

Japanese Poppy, sketch