Focus, Breathe

A day off yesterday. Nice. The past 6 months have been some of the busiest months in years. It's a good thing to have work as a freelancer, but my evenings and much of my weekends have been sacrificed in getting these projects done. The time flew by in a series of drawings and paintings that piled up upon completion (I submit most of my work digitally now), with hardly a moment to reflect on what I'd accomplished. In that time I did work for an upcoming issue of Cricket Magazine, Realms of Fantasy Magazine, 3 Magic: the Gathering sets, the Blue Moon game, and one large personal painting. All told, something like 22 paintings of various sizes plus the drawings for them all in 6 months, during which i prepared for then spent about a week each in Barcelona, San Diego, and Indianapolis for events. So about 5 months of actual work-time. Then there was the bathroom remodel, guests from Japan, and whatever other things life throws your way. Somewhere along the way I turned 30, too.

Perhaps that doesn't sound like a lot. It might not be if I was Mark Rothko. And the next 6 months don't strike me as easier. If the above sounds like complaining, believe me that I get how cool it is to be a fantasy illustrator and to be able to travel for work like I do. I mean, seriously, I got to recently whip out a clumsy drawing of a knight using crayola markers for my nephew. I made his day. That's pretty cool. I've just got an evening to reflect and realize I've surprised myself with what I managed to do. 3 months or so ago it felt nearly impossible to get it all done.

Actually, all this thinking back could simply be due to my listening to "Particles and Waves" by Cranes, which I just got in and have had spinning for a couple hours now. Imagine taking a nap wrapped in a warm blanket while floating in space. It feels like that.