Category / non-fiction

by Janet

Muse in the Mirror

After scrapping another episode of barbershop tales… I did a little imagery tonight and came up with the word Muse for the letter “M.”

I’ve never really put much thought into the word, so I looked it up to see what the Internet had to say. Below are some of the definitions that I found:

As a noun, a muse is a person – especially a woman – who is a source of artistic inspiration. Another noun definition is “a person, or an imaginary being or force that gives someone ideas and helps them to write, paint, or make music.”

As a verb, to muse is to consider something thoughtfully or to become absorbed in thought. Another verb definition is “to have deep thoughts or to meditate.”

That’s a really cool word!

I wanted to try out some new techniques with imagery and I ended up with this colorful female. Honestly, it started out as a woman who was facing her shadow, but my inner child whispered in my ear… telling me that it looked as though she was touching her shadow’s hoo-hoo. (Sorry! It’s hard to unsee once you see it!)

So, I decided that it wasn’t a shadow at all – she was looking at her empty reflection in the mirror. That solved the hoo-hoo problem and gave me all sorts of things to think about.

It actually got me thinking about beauty, and how we see ourselves – and even others. I’ll tell you one thing… When I sit down to illustrate a woman, my intentions are always to make her look as beautiful as possible. Curvy. Slim. Nice lips. Bright eyes.

I’ll tell you something else. I may be my muse (on occasion) when I am writing – but when I illustrate a woman… I am never my muse. Unless it’s a self-portrait obviously.

It’s hard as you age! So, when I look in the mirror, or see myself in a Zoom class, I end up getting mad at society as if it’s society’s fault that I’m not happy with my appearance. I’m not photogenic to begin with, and now I’m older, heavier, grayer… and… (you get the drift).

I started to wonder… At what age does the acknowledgement of beauty, or the lack thereof, actually start? I mean, how do we know where the bar is when we’re a child? Is it instinctual or something learned? And why do we carry that bar with us our entire life?

To get myself off of that negative path I decided that I see these things because that is what I’m looking for or expecting. Like a big red pimple on the tip of your nose… the morning of Senior Photo day. It always happens like that! Probably because of the stress we put on our body when we worry all night about it happening!

Anyway, I could go on and on, but why be a downer?! I wanted to find a lesson in the muck of my thoughts, and the lesson I found was that I have to believe better. I need to look in that mirror and stop seeing the enemy.

I need to face that mirror, look into my muse’s eyes, and I need to tell her “my darling… you look wonderful tonight.”

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

Audrey Hepburn

That’s about all for now.

Thank you so much for reading or viewing… I hope you enjoyed!

I’ll see you soon for the letter “N.”

-Janet

by Janet

Leather & Lace

Ok. So this one has kept me up half the night because I wanted to finish it (and post it), but I kept having issues and creative debates with myself. Yes, I do that.

First of all, it’s pretty obvious that I’m on the letter “L” and I’ve chosen Leather & Lace. It’s likely that the term came to mind because of one of the best songs of the 80s (Don Henley and Stevie Nicks for anyone who’s been deprived).

I thought… “what a cool idea to try and incorporate leather and lace into an illustration”. Wrong! Haha. The leather wasn’t too hard, but trying to find ways to depict lace in Illustrator was tough.

I am happy with the girl (what do you think of her turquoise jewelry?) – but I fear my attempts to create something that resembled lace fell short. I had to go with something that looks a little more like a doily. 🙂

Anyway, since I don’t have much to say about leather and lace, I thought that metaphorical might be the way to go (which was something I should have done for the illustration perhaps).

When I think of leather and lace I think of masculine and feminine, or even something as simple (and non-gender specific) as hard and soft. Haha! Or gentle and tough.

I think that leather and lace might describe the human spirit. We have this gentle side that loves and cares for others – unconditionally under certain circumstance – and then we have this tough side that we put on for protection. Or to impress, depending on the situation.

I think it’s a bit like yin and yang – or personality types – you want the opposites to balance out because too much of one and not enough of the other can cause problems. Too hard, and you shut people out. Too soft and you risk becoming a doormat.

That’s my two cents anyway. I wish I’d thought of something a little more profound, but it’s 3:30 a.m. and I need to hunker down! (that’s my tough side talking).

So… I guess that’s about all for now. Thanks for reading or looking – I hope you enjoyed!

Until later,

-Janet

by Janet

Kaleidoscope Dreams

I thought that the letter “K” deserved a visual illustration rather than a story. Whenever I’m in the midst of feeling like things aren’t coming together perfectly, I step back and try to do something colorful. It’s a form of venting for me.

At first, when considering the Alphabet Game, I wanted to use the word Kumbaya. The problem I had was that there were so many different articles, meanings of, and thoughts about Kumbaya that my idea suddenly lost its luster. Then I had an idea for the barbershop series – a character named Kitty – but things were dragging on the story end.

It’s possible that I’ll come back to both of these ideas someday, or at least use the images that I made for both of them, but for the time being it seemed like a really good time to do an illustration for the word I settled on – Kaleidoscope.

My illustration is colorful and dreamlike, like a kaleidoscope. It’s funny that I always refer to my dreams as colorful though, because color is probably one thing that I never remember about my dreams.

Anyway, this began as a girl in a rather large, floppy hat. She is now doubly exposed, which makes sense because – according to Merriam-Webster – kaleidoscopes have two mirrors in them. Another dictionary defines kaleidoscope as a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors, which actually describes life – when you think about it.

I like to think of the illustration as something that represents how I see myself – because it’s difficult to define and label. I’ve spent time trying to do just that… define and label myself... and it was eye opening to realize that attempting to do so was not only counterproductive, but that the process itself can stifle, suffocate, and paralyze.

Like the kaleidoscope, we undergo constant change, and fluidity is the key – not definitions or labels. That’s what I finally realized, and I like that. I like it a lot.

So… I think that’s about all for now.

Thanks for coming by, I hope you enjoyed my illustration and my thoughts on the “K” word.

I’ll be back again soon… for the letter “L.”

Until then,

Peace & Love!