Month: July 2020

July 2020 Wrap-Up – Big Milestone, Big Burnout

Cross-posted from my Patreon blog

July has ended and it’s been a strange mix of some great milestones here, but also an acknowledgement of my continued struggle with burnout.

To start off, Kev and I packed up the FINAL Kickstarter order after a year and change of consecutive Kickstarter campaigns dedicated to the Birthstone Goddesses enamel pins!

It’s been amazing to see how fans, new and old, have turned out to support this pin series’ creation.  The pins are complete and I am so happy with them!  That’s one big project milestone for the Birthstone Goddesses complete:

(The entire series is now available in my shop!)

Now, we can sit back and get some much needed rest!  This year-long journey has shown me what my limits are as a one-person business and that I just can’t do this all by myself without sacrificing my well-being.  It shows me I can only do two Kickstarters a year at most, and that it’s super important for my creative wells to not sacrifice so much of my time painting to business upkeep, promotion, and project management.

It showed me I was very bad at taking time off as well!  It just wasn’t possible. The last few months I kept trying to take time off, but there was always something in Backerkit that needed setting up, ads to design, proofs to approved, and Kickstarter things to promote before the next deadline.  

So now for vacation take three (or four?), I’m losing count!  Now that there are no more Kickstarter things until next year, I’m taking some ACTUAL true and proper time off!  Reading this article on artists defining and struggling with their burnout really made me pause and think about some specific strategies for myself to set better resting habits!

Our creativity is a muscle that can be strained and it’s a skill they don’t teach in school.  I’m giving myself permission to have fun in August, do non-art crafty projects, and play all the video games!  And THIS TIME I will not have to worry about unavoidable Kickstarter deadlines encroaching on that all-important rest time.

Coming in August

I’ll still be sharing a new coloring page and new art.  I’ll be meandering with fun art, like Anko’s 6 Outfits Challenge, finishing more portraits for my charity drive, and sharing more creative journey posts here, for a little while.  The Birthstone Goddesses are entering their final phase for me and there’s a lot I want to tell you all about where we’re going from here, once I’ve rested a bit!

Digest of July’s Posts

New Rewards Added in July

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I hope you all won’t mind seeing my continued art diversions here for a little while longer!  The Birthstone Goddesses will return momentarily, but as I’ve been going full steam ahead on them for 6 years (wow!), it’s important that I let it rest for a little while to finish off the final phase with a bang!  I’m planning some very different illustrations to be included in the art book and I am SO excited to get into something that’s less Mucha and more ME.

More soon!

 ♥ Ang

June 2020 Wrap-Up – This Month Was the Longest Year

Hey, all!  June has been extremely challenging and I don’t even know where to begin.  There are so many difficult topics to cover here.

To start, I’ve had a bit of fallout this month from posting the portrait of Kev and myself in support of Black Lives Matter.  Having to describe to people, especially close acquaintances, how this is not a terrorist movement, how ‘all lives matter’ is a dismissive statement, etc. has been exhausting (and only a fraction of what my husband has to deal with 24-7, every day of his life).  But honestly, this discourse has been long overdue.  I’m going to keep explaining and going to keep working on the charity portraits because it is important we keep speaking up and discussing difficult topics!  It’s a discussion that needs to be ongoing and ever-present beyond the hashtag trend.

Speaking of difficult topics, I also have to discuss the fallout of Noah Bradley and Sam Flegal, both who have admitted to sexual misconduct publicly this month.  As someone who helped promote Noah’s resources and classes, as well as someone who was heavily involved for years with One Fantastic Week where Sam participated as a co-host, I have been shaken to my core.  I’ve lost two major communities for networking and sharing professional practices with other artists in the span of a couple of weeks, which is nothing next to the pain of the victims that have been coming forward risking their careers and friendships to speak out.

I hope that anyone who ever saw my recommendations to these communities here was never hurt by any of their actions.  I don’t know what will become of these communities that were such major touchstones for many of my fellow artists and myself, but I do know the wildfire spread of people finally being brave enough to speak up is ultimately going to make us stronger and the community safer.

I also want to do my part here to help others, to provide alternatives for those who need them right now, which is why I’ve re-invigorated my side project, The Muse’s Library, so that I can return to more actively providing art biz advice, stock art, etc.  We desperately need more variety in the voices putting out this material for aspiring artists and I want to contribute to that.  This may mean a shake-up to this Patreon, as I  may endeavor to share more advice articles, as you have seen me do in regards to my Kickstarter etc.  I’m currently pondering how best I can bring that presence here or if it clashes too much with my Birthstone Goddesses endeavors. (If you have thoughts on this, let me know!)

This month has been disappointing and enlightening, for better or for worse.  I don’t know what’s coming next this year, but all we can do is brace, encourage one another, and face that uncertain future together!

Coming Next Month:

I HOPE that after I finish shipping all the packages for the final pins Kickstarter that I can get back to creating!  Now that the coloring page poll has been answered, I’ll continue bringing out new coloring page releases as well.  I hope to share my mini art side trip exploring Anko’s 6 Outfits Challenge also!

Digest of June’s Posts

Rewards Added in June