hobbies

For some reason, I always think: normal people have a hobby that they love, and they love that hobby forever.

Now, I know that’s probably ridiculous, and not true in many (most?) cases, because of course our interests and hobbies can grow and change as we grow and change! But that thought is something that I bring into every new thing that I do.

I am constantly looking for something that I will love forever.

what i’ve learned about myself

That silly little thought adds an invisible pressure to every project I work on, because I kinda already know that I’m going to lose interest in whatever new hobby I’ve adopted in an undetermined amount of time. So my brain says, “make as many as you can, as fast as you can, before you don’t want to make them anymore!!!” Of course, as you can imagine, this logic just adds to the stress…and what I am really trying to work on, is to release this negative way of thinking, learn to enjoy what I’m doing in the moment, and cut out the unnecessary pressure that I put on myself constantly (it really wasn’t until very recently that I realized how tense of a person I truly am. I mean, whoops. Sometimes you just don’t know until you take a step back).

Because the simple fact is: my interests are continually changing, and one day I can love doing something, and the next day I may despise the work. And I think that’s something that I just have to accept about myself.

the mini portraits

Earlier in the year I started making these tiny mini portraits. I got obsessed with them, and was working on them night and day. They were all 2”x2” acrylic paintings, many of them based off photographs that I’d taken. I made some into notecards, and then started collecting them for these little gallery art pieces that I could envision in my head.

And then, after I finished a dozen notecards, and the 18 tiny portraits for my two collages: I was done. Even thought I had originally wanted to paint so many more (I had a folder of photos to use for inspiration on my computer!), I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I’d reached my limit.

what i got out of it

And, even though I had originally had much grander plans, I had to accept that I no longer wanted to fulfil those plans. It was, again, a quick flash or inspiration, rather than something I would enjoy doing for a lengthy amount of time.

And maybe I’ll get inspiration to work on some more in the future, or maybe I’ll never made another 2”x2” painting again in my life (I mean, very doubtful, but still), either way: I got two beautiful art pieces out of this burst of inspiration, and not only did I branch out from my normal forms of artwork, I was pleased with the results as well!

I gave one to Mom for her birthday (blue), and I kept the other for myself (pink). In my collage, the only square not painted directly from a photo that I took was the one in the center of my frame: the couple in the pink sunset.