A Love Letter to February
Happy Leap Day! I hope everyone has had an absolutely wonderful start to their new year. January was a [much-needed] slower month over here in My Haunted Cottage, but now I’m ready to get back into the swing of things! February seemed to fly by, but that’s only because it was filled with so many fun activities.
First off, happy Lunar New Year! It’s the year of the wood dragon, so naturally I decided to do my first woodcut since 2022. As soon as I started carving, I started kicking myself for not doing a burning (because it’s a dragon, you know?), but I’ve justified it by saying that it’s usually the Western dragons that breathe fire & the Eastern dragons are more often associated with rivers or water - so it works out.
Aside from my carving, I also worked on this month’s Mini Print Club linocut: a Victorian hand holding a love note. It may or may not be inspired by a large pieces I’m currently working on… but more to come soon! This design in particular came from a little tattoo design I created back in 2021. Can you tell I also used this motif in the header for this month’s blog post? I just love Victorian hand imagery, especially when they’re holding little trinkets or flowers. Even though these prints have already been shipped out, there are still a few slots left for March if you’d like to join via Ko-Fi before the cutoff date (the 14th).
Lastly, I started a Daily Doodle drawing challenge! It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but I think it’ll be a great way to still exercise my creative muscles, even on days when I’m busier. It’ll also help me get over my perfectionism tendencies; there have already been days that I’m less pleased with (can you tell which ones?) but since I’m using ink, I’m ultimately stuck with them. Here’s to losing my fear of failure!
So far I haven’t stuck to a particular theme, and I’ve been enjoying the freedom in that. A few of the daily doodles were inspired by what had happened that day, but not all of them. Maybe some weeks will have a certain motif later on!
This past month, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the relationship between artists & social media. Though I am neither an expert on the subject nor the most eloquent person, I believe I am able to contribute to the conversation as both a user experience designer & as an artist who uses social media for business purposes. I have a lot of conflicting opinions on the matter, and I honestly could ramble for an entire separate blog post about it, but I will do my best to organize some of the messier thoughts here. Please note that I am not talking about any specific artist, but rather the trends I have noticed in the online art community as a whole & how I see myself fitting within its ever-changing culture.
Firstly, I know there is a lot of discourse surrounding the various algorithms on different social media platforms - namely, Instagram & TikTok. Before I come off as yet another artist complaining about the numbers, I do want to say that this is not what I will be discussing in this post; while I do have a lot of stances about this topic, I’m unsure if I’ll be able to get to speaking on them here just yet. I understand that Instagram is a business that offers a [relatively] free service to the public and therefore needs some way to make money, but it seems as though they may have been making some rather poor decisions when it comes to the best interests of their users. I digress!
Anyways, something that has been on my mind more often lately is that I feel as if there’s a growing number of creators who are sacrificing mastery for widespread appeal. I have certainly been guilty of this in the past - a lot of my work is inspired by the changing of seasons, and I’ve often felt the pressure to rush a piece in order to post it on time so that it could still be considered relevant. I’d give up the opportunity to fine tune details for something simpler to guarantee that my online schedule is consistent enough (is it enough?). It’s the age-old battle between quality vs. quantity. In my personal view, the scales seem to be tipping towards quantity for the majority of artists that are getting steady attention on my social feeds. This could have something to do with the aforementioned algorithm & its reward system, but I’ll stick to sharing my perspective rather than speculation.
While seeing so many amateur tutorials is fantastic for making art more accessible, it’s disheartening to see mediocrity celebrated for the sake of convenience. This is not to say that my work is any better than anyone else’s or that others are less skilled/talented than I am or that there is anything morally or objectively wrong with content creation, but I challenge posting at the expense of art. No longer will I be satisfied with the mindset that subpar or unfinished work must be shared so that it’s “on time”! I’d rather spend my time honing skills & carefully crafting something that is meaningful, growing & developing my ideas as an artist rather than churning out random bits as some kind of machine. Sure, creation for easy content is still creation, which is inherently good in my opinion, and over time skills do become refined regardless - but think of how much more quickly we could improve if only we slowed down! My main issue, however, is what is driving that creation. I think it’s important to examine why we do the things we do, and we have to ask ourselves: is this what art is meant to be?
It’s hard not to sounds judgmental or like a silly jaded armchair psychologist, but I think this rapid movement of turning from “art” to “content” does negatively reflect the "capitalist hellscape” in which we live. Everything must be profitable; all numbers must go up. I am a person, not a corporation.
Regardless, as much as I have embraced digital platforms as tools to share my work & make a name (or a “brand” as marketers call it nowadays) for myself, part of me still can’t help but feel skeptical. I don’t want to be someone who is “chronically online” just to keep up with my accounts & end up missing out on all this world has to offer, despite how enticing being an influencer might be. I don’t want to put all of my eggs in a digital basket, because it’s not really there. It can be fleeting (despite the fact that nothing is ever truly removed from the Internet, it’s become so oversaturated that what’s the point? It’s not like people are seeing things anyways), and we never know when a website could pull a MySpace & suddenly die or become completely irrelevant. Instagram could go down at any moment. Attitudes continually shift; it can be utterly exhausting trying to understand the intricacies of that change.
I think this is why I’ve been spending more time offline this year, and why one of my resolutions is to spend more time crafting pieces that are genuinely important me. Ironically, I spend so much time on these blog posts when my website could potentially crash & be lost forever - which is why journaling has been such a joy these past few weeks. Besides, there’s something so satisfying about holding things in your own two hands: it’s here, it’s physical, and it’s real.*
*Disclaimer: this is not to say that digital (non-AI) art isn’t real art - I’m a digital illustrator myself & love the work I create! I just happen to have an affinity for traditional media. I also wanted to mention that there are some artists on social media who create absolutely mind-blowing pieces, and not all of them are relatively unknown. For that, I am so grateful. I know it seems like I was doing a lot of bashing in this commentary, but truly I think it was more an examination of my own practice & how I want to improve my own relationship with my work. Inspiration is everywhere!
WELL - that was a lot to discuss! In other news, while this month was a little lacking on the art-side of things (I didn’t make nearly enough progress on my “big piece” as I had hoped), I was still incredibly busy with my cousin moving in with us! She’s from Alaska, so we’ve been showing her all around town - Georgia has so much to offer! We had tons of fun going to art museums, cafes, and the botanical gardens. I absolutely love my home. If you ever need any recommendations for fun things to do in the Atlanta area, hit me up!
Here are a few things that tickled my fancy this month:
This amazing painting I saw while antiquing: It has a ton of Fantastic Planet vibes, which I totally dig. If only I had $4,000 to drop!
Pierre Auguste Renoir: He’s always been one of my favorite artists, but visiting the High Museum of Art last week has rekindled my admiration for his work. The Impressionist movement has always inspired my work, but Renoir’s masterful use of color is truly incredible!
European Cafes (specifically Parisian): After experiencing one of the best almond lattes I’ve ever had at Cafe Intermezzo in Midtown, going back is all I’ve been thinking about lately! The atmosphere reminded me of my trip to Paris in 2016, and it’s some of the most comforting dark academia vibes.
Reading: King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Playing: Still working my way through Hollow Knight.
Watching: While carving my Lunar New Year piece, I watched a TON of Studio Ghibli. I adore the cottage, countryside aesthetic in those animations. Seth & I also started Barry, which is super fun!
Listening to: The Moth, a radio show that comes on every Sunday after church when I’m driving home. It has a lot of spoken word storytelling, and it’s really enjoyable.
Eating: This delicious Valentine board from a local coffee shop; the strawberry heart scone is divine. I personally prefer the honey rose latte over the “spicy” (not really) Mayan mocha.
Making: Currently working on a new seasonal illustration for work! I should be able to share it soon.
Aside from finishing up my first “big” piece of 2024, I definitely want to focus on honing my foundational skills. I think it’s about time I start working on my Domestika courses, starting with a Botanical Illustration with Watercolors class by Pauline Maciel. Flowers are one of my favorite subjects to paint, and I’m excited to see how I can further improve!
I also have plans to add a few more entries to the Nature Compendium within this next month; I promise I haven’t forgotten about it, haha!
Love always,
Stephanie
