Rediscovering Art
A box of art supplies I’ve had lying around, plus my new Inktense pencils by Derwent.
Art was always my favorite subject and something I excelled at. I loved drawing — usually dragons, animals, and other mythological creatures — but also painting, pastels, ceramics, sculpture…basically any medium I could get my hands on.
I was so sure of my path that I continued to study art in college. Graphic design seemed more viable as a career than painting, so off I went! I kept painting in my spare time, but that gradually tapered off around 2017.
I was happily climbing the tech ladder when the pandemic hit. Like most would say, everything changed. I found myself dealing with compounding personal tragedies, including my dog’s cancer diagnosis, isolation, and then getting laid off. I fell into a depression in 2022 and feel like I only started recovering around the spring of 2023.
The summer of 2023 was the first year since the pandemic that things felt more normal and hopeful. I was active and meeting up with people in real life again. Something was still missing though. I wanted something, but I didn’t know what exactly.
Around the end of October, I realized that Inktober was taking place. For those who may be unfamiliar with this trend, Inktober was created in 2009 by Jake Parker to improve his drawing skills through repetition, practice, and exploration. As it caught on, people drew mostly what they wanted and shared the results online. By 2016, Inktober began posting prompts as guides. Uncertainty kept me from posting online in the few remaining days left, but it got me started.
Drawing for just a few days in a row reignited a creative spark in me that I hadn’t felt for a while. I felt surprisingly excited at the possibility of expressing myself, learning new things, and feeling inspired again.
I will keep posting as my creative journey evolves!
