Hello! Well it’s been awhile. I’ve had some trouble keeping up with this blog, as must be obvious. Truth to be told? I’m… TIRED. My job has taken a lot of out of me these last couple months, particularly on the emotional front. I am learning how to be a manager, which has inevitably led to learning how to lay down boundaries with people. This is something I have never been all that confident in, but if I want to achieve a sensible work-life balance, it’s something I need to be confident in. Otherwise, consider my life over, done. Consider my life similar to these last few months: myself too tired to update my poor blog.
Thankfully, things have taken a turn for the better these last two weeks as I’ve become more intentional about taking care of myself. I’ve treated myself to long walks, delicious meals, draw-a-thons. I’ve napped on my lunch breaks, cuddled with my cat, practiced my Finnish. I’ve devised plans on how I can get back to how I used to feel, when I wasn’t so tired, when I felt a “spark” about life. Lately, I haven’t felt any “spark” I’ve just felt a bit weighed down, at least most the time.
I’ve been doing my best to draw every single night, no matter what my energy level, and I’ve been able to complete this Family Drawing as a result. The last drawing I completed was of one of my maternal great-grandmothers, Evelyn Kozirok. This drawing above is of my other maternal great-grandmother, Florence Rassat. 🙂
I never met Florence. I’ve been told she was quite ornery in her old age and so was a bit unpleasant to be around. She lived to be 103, which I find insane. Also, she married at a very young age. For this drawing, I referenced a photograph of her from her wedding day. She was only 18 or 19 years of age.
Also, on the subject of Florence, I find it absolutely necessary I share this extremely adorable picture of her and her sister when they were little. Florence is on the left, and her sister on the right.
This is the only picture I have of Florence when she was little, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. It’s ridiculously wholesome, she almost looks like a doll.
Now I am looking ahead to what I am going to draw next. I’ve really wanted to do more drawings of family members from my dad’s side, but I unfortunately have very few pictures to choose from. I have one picture of my paternal grandmother, Edna, in her older age during Christmas, and I have a scrapbook of many pictures of my dad, but that’s about it… Either way, I do feel it’s time I do a drawing of my dad, especially when at this point I have already drawn my mom 8 times! Here is the photograph I am thinking of using as my reference:
He is about 26 years old here and has a little Pekingese pup in his hands. In Photoshop, I manipulated this photograph so it is black and white, cropped into a square, and much more moody and shadowy. However, as I look at this photograph, I find myself loving the color scheme so much that I am wondering if I should try to do a more expressive colored pencil drawing instead. I guess I haven’t quite decided yet…
Anyway, yeah. I’m gonna go now!
Feel free to enjoy this lovely music below while I am gone 🙂
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