Creating a world of my own
We're due hot weather for the next week so my working changes somewhat. Heat makes it hard to work with acrylic products so I tend to switch to watercolour and gouache. I bought some Khadi rag paper to experiment on, to produce small paintings, and I really like it. The dilemma for me is the small size combined with the texture means you have to do simple pictures, which is yet another style, to add to my already extensive portfolio of styles! I love these little characters though, they make me smile, and isn't that what creating should do?
One of the things I struggle with as an artist, and as a person, is the need to conform. Instagram in particular favours a homogenous feed and I am just not that person. I thrive on interest and challenge rather than variations of the same. Each media has it's own strengths and weaknesses, so I've developed different styles for each to adapt to that. I enjoy that variety and often find discoveries in one medium give me ideas for another.
I find social media a challenge because I seem so vastly different to others. I haven't yet found another creative person who likes 1950's clothes, endurance cycles, loves science and more mysterious things, loves goats, and much more besides! I seem to be simultaneously both ends of every spectrum, and it's really quite hard to fit into what the world wants on the internet. I would far rather be authentic though, than pretend to be what I'm not. In a world where people are using ChatGPT to batch create posts so you're not sure who the actual person is, I do believe that will wear thin very quickly, and authenticity will become a great USP.
The dry weather is slowing the grass down and Merv is still moulting, a process that seems to go on forever, so I'm anticipating a hot, cross goat this week! He gets very itchy and annoyed when his coat is coming out and he ensures all of us know about this! The sheep give him a wide berth, especially now they've been sheared. I'm hoping to add a few more sheep to the flock in the autumn. They'll be small native ones, but with horns, so they can hold their own with the Merv monster.
