Wishing you warm and peaceful holidays! ❤ Thank you for all of your support and encouragement this year!!!
p.s. I’m gonna be on my sabbatical this coming week, and there won’t be any new blog post until January 1st!
Sending you lots of love,
Yuko
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Mindfulness Art Gallery!
Hey there, friend!
Hope your December is going well!
It’s crazy this year is almost over… When this post comes out, I’m gonna be teaching my last block printing workshop of the year! Then heading out to Wisconsin in a couple of days to see my in-laws! It’s definitely feeling like the holidays now.
You may remember I created 12 new artwork for the fall/winter stationery collection, and I thought it would be fun to showcase them today 🙂
I’m calling it the Mindfulness Art series because I created it to remind myself to have peace and calm in my life.
I started creating this art series after going to my second 10-day silent meditation retreat earlier this year (you can learn more about my experience here.) I came home super chill and centered and wanted to nurture those blissful feelings by creating these artwork.
I hope my art and the messages will help you find a little peace and positivity in your life, too! That’s what it’s all about anyway 🙂
And if you’re a Seattle local, I’m showing them at Tin Umbrella Coffee in south Seattle throughout the month of December, so go check them out 🙂
p.s. These art prints will also be available on my Etsy shop as well, so check back and/or sign up for my newsletter to be notified when they become available 🙂 Bonus if you tell me which ones you’d like to see as a print!
Ok, friend, I hope you have a wonderful day and a peaceful holiday season!
xo Yuko
30-minute daily painting challenge is ON!!
The other day I posted this drawing on Instagram, and the cation read:
“Ok truth time – I haven’t drawn anything for 2 weeks. It’s a shame, I know. // I’ve been spending most of my time putting together my winter collection and other tasks, and you know how it goes. There is a lot of photoshopping, uploading, writing, posting, promoting, emailing, scheduling, packaging etc. etc. // Last night I finally doodled this while watching Netflix and it felt so nice. // I feel like I need to be intentionally creating work now more than ever. For myself and others who can use beauty and light in their lives.”
It was difficult to admit I hadn’t made any art (including doodling!) for two weeks!!! I mean, how can I call myself an artist If I don’t have a consistent creative practice? Isn’t the whole reason why I quit my day job to pursue my passion (=make art) full-time?
Right.
I get being an entrepreneurial artist means you need to have a strong business practice, and you don’t get to just make art all the time.
I’ve been focusing a lot on the business side of things because that’s where I had the least experience in, and I also enjoy the hustle of working on my business. But that doesn’t mean the only time I create art is when I’m designing new products or when “I have time” (well, look what that got me! Two weeks of not making art!!).
I had a wake-up call to me – in order for my business to grow, I need to nurture my creative practice more intentionally and put more time and energy into it. And business aside, I want to be a person who truly values creativity, and I want my action to align with my words.
So, here is the deal. I decided to start a new 365 day painting challenge!
You may remember between April 2014 and April 2015, I did a daily drawing project called 365 Day Happiness is, where I made a drawing about happiness every day for 365 days.
That project helped me find and develop my own creative voice, and I became more confident as an artist. I also got many cool opportunities through the project, like being featured in one of Lisa Congdon‘s speeches and starting a partnership with Sakura of America.
This time around, I’m not gonna have a specific theme, but I’ll paint or draw something for 30 minutes every day (my big inspiration for this comes from August Wren, who is on her year 3 of daily painting!) and share it on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
I’m excited to practice painting with gouache (i.e. opaque watercolor) and other media, and limiting it to 30 minutes a day makes it less overwhelming. What scares me the most about putting a time limit is sharing work I don’t think are great 😀 You know, because when 30 minutes is over, it’s over. I’m not gonna try to make it “perfect” before sharing it with my audience. No matter how much I hate it, it’s going to be shared! And that makes me feel SO vulnerable!! EEEEEK!
But, my goal is about showing up every day and not about making a masterpiece every day.
Like Jennifer from August Wren says, I’m not gonna apologize or make an excuse for work I don’t think are great. I’ll just paint every day, share, and move on.
Doing a daily project like this is a really good practice in letting go. And the thing is, number 1, people probably don’t think it sucks as much as you do, and number 2, nobody’s gonna remember your post 5 minutes after they see it 😀 They’re just not as emotionally attached to your creations as you are! So it’s OK 🙂
I want to do this for at least one year but potentially longer. I know once it becomes a habit, it’s just gonna be something you do every day, and you’ll start to miss it if you don’t do it. Painting every day is an awesome thing to do anyway even if I decide to switch my career at some point in the future!
When I had the inspiration to start another 365 day project, I thought about starting it on January 1st. But there is no real reason to wait, is there? I was afraid I’d lose a momentum or come up with excuses not to start if I waited.
So I just started my daily painting challenge 2 weeks ago! And here is a couple more 🙂
You can follow along on any social media I listed earlier although Instagram (@honeyberrystudios) is probably my favorite. Use the hashtag #yukosdailypainting to view my paintings so far!
Hope you enjoy! And feel free to join me in the daily painting challenge. I can use a company in this journey 🙂
xo Yuko
Honeyberry Diary 