Hurray!
To put it simply, it has been intense. The past five years have been especially harrowing. To give you a sense of just how much work has gone into this I went through my closet and pulled out all of my sketchbooks from my years in the illustration program at UVU....
In case you can't tell, that's 32 sketchbooks.
I also pulled out every assignment, project, and painting I've done over the past 5 years (give or take, since I've sold some of them)...
I didn't bother counting these ones but to give you an idea of how much work that is I know there are over 60 of those small paintings on the top alone.
Needless to say I have dedicated my life to this. Every hour that I haven't spent at work or sleeping has been spent on art. I have sacrificed weekends and every social engagement possible to work on improving my craft.
Now that school is over I feel tired, worn out, despondent, and slightly terrified. I've come a long way but I still feel under qualified to enter the professional work force. Nevertheless I am excited for what comes next! The great thing about the art world (and probably most decent human beings) is everyone recognizes there is room for improvement and that you don't stop progressing the second you have a diploma in hand.
Recently I've had this terrible feeling that I've digressed as an artist. I've fallen into the especially dangerous trap of comparing my work to other people's work. So it was a bit reassuring to find the very first drawing I did way back in Drawing I during Spring semester in 2011 and compare it with one of the last drawings I did during my last semester. The first one is a tricycle and the last one is a nude figure (fair warning for people that have issues with naked people). It might have been a better idea to compare a figure with a figure but whatever...
I had TWO HOURS to draw this tricycle and THIS is all I did?!
I took this picture on my phone and had to tilt the camera to get the whole figure in the shot so the proportions are a little skewed.
This blog post is a bit unfocused (this is due in part to fact that I'm also watching the Great British Baking Show) but I'd like to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone for their support during my school days. It has been an arduous journey and I have not always been a pleasure to be around during that time. Thank you for your patience, encouragement, occasional purchases, and love. I'm so grateful to all of my teachers, my friends, my fellow students, and my family. I have learned so much from you and I feel a profound sense of joy to be associated with all of you.
Now... before this starts to sound too much like an award show acceptance speech....
It's time to get back to drawing!
Much Love;
Virginia May
