27.5.12

Overshare?

There is a wintery change in the air bringing in some new exciting projects!
Here is the view from my studio: Dark, windy, wintery nights, quiet and still.
Crisp, clear-sky mornings with autumn leaves.
Copious amounts of tea.
Lavender, Lemon balm & Chamomiles. Peppermint & Spearmint. My two favourites.
And of course slippers and mismatched socks. winter01 winter02 winter04 winter03 winter05 winter06 winter07 winter08

Writing a blog and sharing my inner worries, frustrations, opinions, inspirations, process and adventures, leaves me vulnerable to scrutiny and judgment. Lately I’ve been wondering how I am interpreted in my blogs and if I share too much.

While many may scoff at my writing style and naïve insights, it feels empowering to share my perspective. I’m not ashamed of my socially awkward humour or my overly dramatic recounts of every day life. I try to be entertaining in my own way. But I also try to share the process of what I’m doing in the pursuit of my dreams, my adventures and of course my artwork. I want to be different from the norm, I want to be creative every day, I want to have diversity in life and I want to have love in my life. I definitely do not want to fit into the mould of another; I have my own shape and my own direction.

I think it’s important to create awareness and community around creatives and freelancers. Sharing the struggles and the inspirations and feeling the comfort in the experience of others. It does comfort me to know that I’m not the only sharer.

Illustrator Dawn Tan (known for her amazing food & product illustration) expresses her tears, her self-doubt, her career confusion, her excitement and honestly tells her readers the ups & downs of her journey. Her blog 'Hand made love' is so honest and heartfelt.

Super Successful, 'Cup of Jo' bloggist, Joanna Goddard, writes so honestly about her life, her feelings and her family. She even shares her experience with post-weening depression and her fears of peeing in earshot of her husband.

 And in case you don’t remember these two articles on the struggles of freelancing: The first is an opinion piece by illustrator Kelly ThompsonRIP IT UP AND START AGAIN

This artwork speaks to me every day: I’m proud of you for following your dreams. I feel so much joy in knowing that I am. This is my favourite art work ever – by Jen Ray in her etsy shop Corduroy.
cordoroy etsy


“Who are you to judge the life I live? 
I know I'm not perfect 
-and I don't live to be- 
but before you start pointing fingers... 
make sure you hands are clean!” 
 ― Bob Marley 

Thank you Bob Marley, I like the way you think.
Live and let live.

Here are a few shots I took at the Indesign after party. I love the lighting! And I have no idea what these amazing little morsels are, because of my dairy allergy, but they look delicious.
Indesign After Party Indesign After Party Indesign After Party Indesign After Party Indesign After Party

I have just finished working on an exciting project with ForkMyFood!
I have created a series of illustrations to be used on the ForkMyFood Blog and Facebook.
Visit ForkMyFood to see the latest illustrations and make sure you check back regularly for the new illustrations and of course, the delicious recipes!
I have also been featured in a ForkMyFood Blog Post.
Here is some of my work for the project...
ForkMyFood Illustrations ForkMyFood Illustrations 
                          ForkMyFood Illustrations

This recipe looks so delicious - Banana pancakes with warm coconut honey: forkmyfood
And this beautiful cake... holy wow! forkmyfood

A little extra reading material:

My new favourite tumblr full of pictures of dogs:  http://dowhattowhosedog.tumblr.com/
dowhattowhosedog

An article on lucky people and how they find luck with a lucky attitude: http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/05/21/10-things-lucky-people-do-differently/#more-452 

One very stylish & hip man – Sam Lambert style interview in The Sartorialist: http://www.thesartorialist.com/style-profiles/style-profile-sam-lambert/#more-25824 
sam lambert

3 comments:

meetmeatmikes said...

I love Dawn Tan and A Cup of Jo too! I'm off to peek around your blog a bit more. xx

Maxabella said...

I popped over from your comment on justb, Emily (I see Pip has too!!). I admire this post and I think that blogging is really all about sharing and how you choose to do that and how much you choose to bring is entirely up to you.

I absolutely love your foody illustrations here so I'm off to check out more of your work!

There are loads of links here for me check out too!

x

Emily Nelson said...

Thank you both so much for visiting! It was funny how the topics related, I guess it is a popular topic at the moment. I am a big fan of blogging and sharing as a way of support and community. It has been what has helped me to have confidence (knowing that I'm not so alone in my thoughts) and I hope I can do the same for others.

I enjoy drawing my food too! Plus am a big fan of Dawn Tan. :) And have been lucky enough to have a food related commission recently!! Big win! :) xo