I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

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Saturday, April 23, 2016

"Prince"

I watched a Prince retrospective on tv and dreamt his songs all night.  I didn't even know I knew that many Prince songs.  I never paid that much attention to him, or at least that's what I thought when I heard he died this week.  I sent a condolence email to a friend of mine who looooved him and thought that's that, but the retrospective reminded me Prince was a changing factor in the world.

I'd forgotten about how he wrote "slave" on his cheek when he was mad at his record company.  He took control of his music, dressed like he wanted, wrote what he wanted, didn't talk to the media very much, and overall, I respected him.  He was role model to my friend, and I'm realizing he played that for me too in subtler ways.  His was a life well lived.  RIP and thank you.

I know, lots of people think they can't succeed for one reason or another.  Prince was an abused 5' 2" epileptic, effeminate black man.  That would be enough to stop most people from trying.  There are lots of incredibly talented people who never make it.  I suspect the biggest reason is because they don't believe they can so they never really try.

Many times I've been told to have "realistic" expectations.  Dream lower.  Don't be so full of myself to think I have what it takes to compete.  The people who've told me these things didn't want me to succeed.  People can be like a nest of hungry birds.  If a sibling gets a coughed up worm, that's one more worm the others didn't get.  They try to keep you weak so you can't lift your head.  Fighting in the nest takes so much work you can't fight for yourself in the greater world.

I don't want to get on stage like Prince.  I just want the best successes for the talents I have.  I finally received the Mensa 50th Anniversary Bulletin magazine for which I did 5 illustrations.  I love it when I see my work in print!  This full-page piece is for an article a father wrote about his elevator-loving, autistic son.  It was the first piece I've done like this in a long time, and I pushed myself and fought my inner critic to do it.  (Pat, pat myself on the head.)  Alright, I'm still fighting my inner critic because Isee things I'd like to fix, but enough.  I did it!  I feel a bit like the happy boy in the illustration.

The first step in doing it was deciding to try.  I wrote the art editor, attached samples, and expressed desire.  I got a response and had to maintain that desire.  It didn't help that I hated the first article she sent me.  When I rejected it, I felt like I'd shot myself in the foot, but she came back with this article and I was happy again.  I then went about the illustration in all the wrong ways and had to keep myself motivated to succeed.

My fights were entirely within myself.  The art editor gave me more articles.  Each got easier to accomplish as I went along.  I rejected a cover article because it just wasn't me, and that felt good too.

Prince set an example.  The autistic boy is another.  There are regurgitated worms for all of us if we dream, follow through, learn, and succeed.

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the piece! It's really nice work.

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  2. What a brilliant piece of artwork Linda, a pat on the back indeed;0) RIP Prince, so sad, we seem to have lost so much talent this year x

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  3. Love the illustration, I think it's worth more than a thousand words!
    Prince was in many ways a role model. "RIP and thank you"

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  4. Congratulations! Lovely work! The story of your process--seeking out the work, being honest about it and not doing what didn't seem right for you, sticking with it--was something I needed to hear right now. I am happy for you!

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  5. Thanks everybody! I'm glad describing my path does something good for you Melissa. I'll look forward to seeing where your path leads!

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  6. Your illustration above is very joyful. The death of Prince sure was a shock. Especially here in Minneapolis. I'm my worst art critic. I've been having a difficult time finishing a large painting I've been working on. It has a peacock and I just haven't been able to match the beauty of the real thing. I hate that. But, I'm finally almost done. And, I think I can finally say I'm at peace with the imperfections.

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  7. I can understand why you'd have trouble with a peacock. The irridescence would be crazy. Being at peace with the imperfections is something every artist has to accept :)

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  8. Yes, yes, yes! Beautiful piece...both the writing and the illustration. Fighting the battles we present to ourselves can be some of the worst knockdown dragouts and in the end, some of the best accomplishments. I have gained a renewed respect for Prince, reading articles about him since he has passed. RIP to him and thank you to you for pointing out that staying true to yourself and your dreams is a wondrous thing.

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  9. Yes, yes, yes! Beautiful piece...both the writing and the illustration. Fighting the battles we present to ourselves can be some of the worst knockdown dragouts and in the end, some of the best accomplishments. I have gained a renewed respect for Prince, reading articles about him since he has passed. RIP to him and thank you to you for pointing out that staying true to yourself and your dreams is a wondrous thing.

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  10. Thanks Cindy! I was surprised and gladdened how thoughts of Prince pulled so many people together.

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