Just another day at work.

My daily commute consists of a 40-minute train ride into the city and from there, a 20-minute walk to work.

Hard to believe I've had to do that for this long.

Today marks my third year of working at the arts-and-crafts store!

I've been trying to escape from there since I started. That job always manages to make me feel incompetent, stressed, and depleted.

But besides my other part-time university job, I haven't found anything better.

There's this fear I'll be stuck in mid-level retail for many years to come.

Is this all I'm going to be?

Epilogue:

Last week I found this wind-up toy some child left behind in the coloring book display.

Every now and then I'll wind it up and watch the spotted feline scamper across my workspace.

Something to amuse me and break up the monotony of it all.

I thought today might've been more meaningful for me considering the three years I gave to this place, but in the end it was just another day at work.

Owl - Step 2 - Reworked drawing

Something just didn't feel right. I put it off to the side and waited.

When I came back to the owl drawing earlier this week, it looked a bit off.

I needed that time away from it to see the eyes were a tad big and slightly cross-eyed.

Better to catch it now. If I had rushed into painting this piece after the first step, it would've been too late to make any needed adjustments.

After tweaking the original drawing.

While reworking the bird's eyes--my old-school house music blaring, I felt like I was bringing this owl to life.

That's how I knew it was finally ready.

The next step will be laying down the paint.

No turning back now!

Wordless Wednesday - Abandoned woman's clothes along Roosevelt Road Bridge

A return to art. (Owl - Step 1 - Drawing)

I thought it would be this big event. A momentous experience.

But no, it was nothing like that.

After almost eight months of not creating any art (the longest time as an adult), I finally sat down and drew over the weekend!

I felt this frustration and resistance and did cry a bit while drawing, but it was time and that was that.

Here's what I started:

It's going to be a painting of an owl. I used a basic grid pattern to ensure the proportions matched the reference photo.

Little by little it'll get done. I still have two unfinished paintings from last year and I do NOT want this to be a third.

If anything, I told myself I could always rip up the drawing if too much time passed without any progress.

We shall see what becomes of this piece.

...and again.

Another bouquet of flowers for me.....from me.