Unlocking 2021
Somehow, after benefiting from making art journal pages off and on for nearly three years, I let it slide.
Working on writing a science fiction book became the focus of my creativity, and it still technically is the most time-consuming creative outlet I have. But life got in the way, too. I went through the bulk of my gender transition. I moved a few times. Began a new career. And maybe I was intimidated by the thought of making art again. It had helped me through such a difficult part of my life, I think I was just a little put off by the thought of going “back there”.
And then: lockdown happened.
It's been amazing to see everyone get so creative over 2020. I was more of a spectator, because my life was actually busier in 2020 than it was in 2019. This current temporary stay in rural Virginia is, to me, what lockdown was like for most people last year.
In effect — I've been bored out of my mind.
On a trip to the dollar store (one of the only stores close by), I impulsively picked up a sketchbook, some pencils, and some oil pastels. Sure, they were cheap, and what I can make from them is limited.
But the point was to make marks again. If all it is, is an angry scribble, then so what? There's a part of all of us that needs a place to do something non-productive, sideways, self-indulgent, that ends up communicating truth that doesn't fit into the grid of the world.