© Anna Denise Floor
'Aha-moments'. I don't really have them very often. I know there are people out there who do. People who have seen that proverbial lightbulb, but not me. For me, realizations come slowly - inklings, ideas, they unfold for me rather than pop up ('slow' is what my brother would say, probably). So when I say that picking up drawing again, was a life changing event for me, I don't mean there was a ray of light hitting me from the skies whilst dramatic music made all the animals in the forest perk up their fuzzy little ears.
When I picked up a pencil again in 2007 it was kind of slow and annoying. My hands wouldn't do what I wanted them to do and it stayed like that for a long time after that first day. They still won't listen to me, always, but taking that first step has changed my life in so many ways. I learned to listen to my passions again, I learned to express myself fearlessly, to find stillness in creating, and remembered what it feels like to be inspired again. But it came slowly and through continuous practice.
Through blogging, my work at Etsy, and the many courses I've taught online and in person, I've tried to help other people pick up a practice of their own. So when the Fantastic Mr. Floor showed me his paintings and drawings a little while back, but also mentioned he hadn't touched an easel in years, I knew I had a mission.
So we bought paint, canvas, brushes, sat down on our living room floor and got going. No singing cherubs to be seen here, but boy, that was fun! And fortunately, when you get sick of staring at your own drawings and paintings, you can always give them away to your parents. They're supposed to love everything you do. Use it.
The final Pieke eehm, Pieter sign.
© Anna Denise Floor
Just a little while ago, one of my good friends gave birth to a beautiful little baby boy named Pieter. Of course, I'm one of those dorks who can't NOT make people something they don't need (and have to act all grateful about) instead of just going to the store like a normal person and picking out something they'll actually use like... pacifiers, and socks, or like, earplugs.
Seriously, when I got my first real apartment, my parents were like "Great! Here's four boxes of useless drawings and clay art projects you've brought home the last 20 years! You can have 'em back! Tadaa!*" - and I totally get it. I'm like the sultan in Aladdin, stuffing birds with crackers they don't want (and we all know what happened to him). It's out of love, folks. All love.
Anyhow. I decided to make one of those little door signs for the little dude and here's what I did and how it happened. It's not a tutorial, as I didn't take any decent pictures or actually included any useful information on how to do it (Pet peeve: tutorials that go like "step 1: get some wood, step 2: pick out some colors, step 3: do the entire thing and make it superawesome" which I am not saying happened here, but you catch my drift. If I knew how to do the entire thing, I'd go do it and instead of wasting my time reading your so-called tutorial, but hey, that's just my personal opinion). But anyhows. I took pictures with my cell phone. Here they are. And yes, I know you can't actually read his name, which is really the only thing it needed to do, right. #Signfail
* Actually, my mom sifted through all of the drawings and turned a selection of the best/most memorable ones into a book, and then gave me the box of drawings that didn't make the cut because she didn't want to throw them out. Seriously, my parents are pretty awesome, and I had a very happy childhood, but where's the fun in that, right? ;-)