i’m thinking about charlotte brontë spending her last years editing and publishing her sisters’ writings and about christopher tolkien dedicating his life to the protection and meticulous reconstruction his father’s life’s work and about johanna van gogh publishing the letters between vincent and theo that would propel vincent van gogh into fame because she knew how much her husband had loved his brother, and about how so often art isn’t just a reflection of the artist’s mind and skills but a testament to the fact that they were loved
Thinking about the Oh Hellos and like I could write a whole essay on how their songs effect my emotions and thoughts, but one of the main things that happens when I listen to them is the overwhelming need to create something.
Like I don’t know what I want to make, but I just get overflowed with the feeling that I should be crafting.
i’ve recently taken up illustrating and that’s something i never thought i’d do. i’ve always admired artists and painters and illustrators but i always thought my strengths were more in writing. i backed away from drawing or painting, entirely convinced that i couldn’t do it but in reality, i never actually gave it a try. i’ve experimented with so many different art forms (poetry & photography & graphic design) and yet i never went near a pencil. i think i was stuck and needing another way to express an idea. i was needing so desperately to get closer to my art and that’s the only way i can describe it. i needed to get closer to the root of it all. to physically bring the idea out of the ground and have full control over it. and i think in illustration, i’ve found the space to do that. it’s different than writing which i use to work through ideas and emotions. it’s different than photography which i use to capture moments and spaces and time. i think i’m realizing there are a lot of days when i just want to talk in images or colors or patterns. it’s all storytelling, just using different tools.
