Why Artists Are Crazy

I have this horrendous pounding headache right now. I know...you're probably thinking then why are you typing Kel? Well...it really isn't going to make my headache any worse. I don't think it could get much worse unless it crosses the line into migraine.

Part of my headache is from sinus pressure. It's that time of year when the dust gets dryer and yet the mold count goes up. I am constantly broke out in hives and my head hurts.

But that's not the only thing causing my headache today. I have a little stress from knowing that in a couple hours my Mother has to drive Jim home from the hospital and it's 90 miles. Luckily it's going to be a nice sunny day.

The last thing that is causing my headache are patterns. I have all these pattern designs running through my head. Designing new things has always been sort of feast or famine for me. I get ideas in a clump. I don't sketch anything out before hand like many artists do. I can envision how to turn two dimensional pieces into a three dimensional animal in my head without having to sketch it out. There is nothing wrong with sketching them out first, it's simply never been a step I have used. In art class I never blocked anything out either, I just sat down and started drawing or painting from the middle. It used to make one of my art teacher crazy. He thought that was wrong somehow. *shrugs* We each have our own process.

What I am having trouble with this time is that I want to make something simple. There is a certain innocence in things that are cute in a simple way. I want to capture that. As I was mentally stitching this pattern six different ways, I realized something. I have never made anything simple. Bears have a lot of pieces and gussets and such. My chimp pattern has over a dozen pieces and my dragon had two dozen. I haven't made either of those in a while. I can't even keep the starfish simple, they have beading and multi layered color applications. It's much harder than you might think to keep it simple. I keep wanting to add things to what I am designing in my brain and then I mentally smack myself and say no no NO!!! This is one of the reasons why artists are crazy. We tend to over think things sometimes, and we always want it to be perfect...knowing all the while that it never will be.

I hope I can do this, but to be honest I am not sure I can do simple, innocent and cute. Maybe I have had too much life experience? *gigglesnorts* I will keep you updated on my progress. I am going to get out the sketch pad and draw the pieces later today. But for now...I am going to go take some allergy meds and go to bed!