HaikuCat Creations

 I was going to get a HaikuCat email list started, but when I went on the website to get it done everything seemed way more complicated than it should be and I don’t really want that on my plate today. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it. I wanted to talk about a couple of different things, but it centers around creative burnout and feeling obligated, which seems to be what I keep coming back here to write about. I’ll start at the beginning though, and the beginning is really the middle and it’s a middle that seems to happen to me over and over and over again. I was feeling burnt out and depressed and full of doubt about my creativity, about my micro business, about my social media presence, about all of it. And I say it happens over and over because it really seems like I just keep getting to a point where I have to have some sort of reckoning with myself to be able to go on at all. Will this pattern just continue on forever, for the rest of my life? Because it’s exhausting. Basic...

 I'm writing a blog post because it's been more than 2 months since I have and because I told myself I would write one this month and it's literally the last day for me to do so and I always have liked putting things off until the last minute. But, I have no plan for this and I'm not going to overthink it, so buckle up. I'm not really sure where to begin this post because I feel like I need to play catch up and write about what kind of artistic pursuits I've been up to since the last time I blogged, but that gets a bit muddled in my head and, really, that's not what I am finding myself drawn toward writing about anyway. I've done plenty, art-wise, in the almost 3 months since I last posted, but what I feel pulled to write has more to do with my feelings surrounding art, so I think that's what I'm going to stick with. Two posts ago I wrote about how certain feelings can get in the way of my creating. Things like rebelling against my own self-impos...

 Artistically speaking, it's been a slow week. There was a birthday and outings and eye doctor appointments and, as such, less art practice. But that is just the nature of life and if I find I have had a week in which I was less able to pick up my art supplies or my needle and thread as often as I would have liked, that just means I'll focus on the week to come. Needless to say I did not fulfill my goal of creating a drawing from reference every day.  What I did do was purchase a few items to play around with. Firstly, I bought a couple of containers of beads to add to some of my embroidery pieces. The last piece I finished, a colorful planet surrounded by a ring of beads, was hopefully the first piece in a little space-themed series, and I liked using the beads so much I wanted to continue to incorporate them into my designs. I also bought a set of Prismacolor colored pencils because the only pencils we have in the house are Crayola. Indeed, thinking about it, I'm pretty s...

 I did not make a post yesterday, Wednesday, as I said I was going to. I am sorry, past-Stephanie, you with your eyes optimistically shining bright, making the naïve assumption that future-Stephanie would be able to stick to a regular posting schedule. I, present-Stephanie, am here to say that, sadly, that probably isn't true. But I might get close. Today, for instance, is Thursday, and Thursday is just Wednesday plus a few extra hours.  I also took a three day break from embroidery. And, though I did fulfill the challenge I set for myself last week to draw 7 drawings from reference, I didn't do any sort of art at all yesterday. Every so often I go to do the things I have set out to do, trying to fulfill the goals that I have created for myself (like posting to this blog every Wednesday or drawing or embroidering every day) and a small voice in the back of my head says, "Hm... I don't wanna." And, actually, I'm trying to honor that little voice, to take it ser...

As I begin this journey, I'd like to take a good look at where I've already been. For it's not truly the beginning of my art journey; it is a continuation. I want to look closely at the artwork I've made and make an honest assessment of it, or at least as honest of an assessment as one can make of their own work. But... Before I begin, I want to make a note to myself. This is the third time I've tackled this post and each time I've had to tone it down and scale it back. When my kids were little they used to watch a children's show on PBS called Dragon Tales . There was a two-headed dragon on it whose heads were siblings named Zak and Wheezy. Zak, the sensible one, was always saying to Wheezy, "Take it easy, Wheezy!" I don't know why, but this phrase has been popping into my head every so often lately. My own way of reminding myself not to freak out, I guess. In this case, it's my way of reminding myself to keep my time and energy focused pr...

  Alright. So, on to the Why of this blog and my project, "Operation Level Up My Art." I mentioned in my last post how I've always felt myself to be a creative person, since I was very young. I mentioned my perfecting of the art of drawing unicorns. My dad taught me how to do that. In fact, I probably got my love of creating art partly from him. He has always set an example by trying out some new artform. He's tried painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography in the course of his life, and his results are always great.  From my mom, I learned how to embroider and sew. When I was little I was always drawn to her embroidery floss stash, which she kept in a little tin container all in a tangled-up mess. She'd just find the color she needed and pull it out of the chaos. When I was in the 9th grade she took me to the fabric store and helped me pick out a pattern and some fabric and with her help, I created my first wearable garments, a top and a skirt. I very specifi...

Hello! Welcome to my new small corner of the internet! I mean, blogs are not new to me, but this blog is new to me.  That is a lie. I started this blog in 2021, couldn't keep things moving with it, deleted the few existing entries, and recycled it into the form you see now. And to call it my corner of the internet feels a bit untrue because I do also have an Instagram account and an Etsy shop and a Facebook account and a lurker Reddit account... I don't know if anybody lays claim to just a corner of the internet anymore these days. Okay, let me start over.  Hello! Welcome to my new little project! Yes, that feels more accurate. So, just what is my "new little project"? Well, I'll be using these first two entries as answers to the five customary journalistic questions: Who? What? When? Why? and Where? (and I'll be adding How? to the list.) I'll answer four of them this week (check the title) and the final two next week. So, to begin with... Who? Well, me....