Back to basics

When life throws you a curve ball, shout plot twist and keep going.

@karina_lawrence on insta
 
That’s what I’ve learned from my years of writing. Sometimes the unexpected just happens, and it shocks you, but you should never let it stop you. Knowing what your goals are in life is important, and I find that no matter what else goes on around me, I always have those to keep me on a steady course.

This month has been all about tightening up skills. It’s good to have focus, I find if I don’t have a goal I flounder, and I don’t look great in yellow and blue stripes (please tell me at least one of you got that joke).

It all goes back to when I was seven and I decided I wanted to be an artist. I would copy cartoon characters from comics and tv shows, the x-men and Dragon Ball characters were top of the list. But as time passed I wanted to be seen as more grown up, I started writing poetry and wearing black. I was a very young goth and clearly very self important... some things never change I guess!

Suddenly I found that all my drawings looked too childish, yes I was a child, but logic hadn’t kicked in at that age... I think I’m still waiting for logic to really find me. So my mum, probably fed up listening to me complain about my lack of drawing skills, and seeing that I did practice, sent me to drawing classes.

It would be the first time that someone I considered of import would tell me I had potential. My young mind fed off of praise. And praise just made me work harder, thankfully.

As you get older you learn that praise is given way more freely to children, to encourage them. If you want praise and recognition as an adult a lot more work and time has to go into things. Effort is the main ingredient in adult success. So I guess my point is this: as a kid I worked hard at my craft, because people praised me, and now I work hard at my craft for me, to learn and improve. Because it’s what I want, not because I’ll get a pat on the back.... though those are still nice. But if you ever want more out of life, you have to put more in.

@karina_lawrence on insta
So I’m going back to basics and practicing my sketching skills this month. Although I started drawing 24 years ago, it's like anything, if you don’t practice you get rusty. Currently I’m loving everything about doing a daily sketch, from the errors to the successes. I'm finding the productivity unsurprisingly fulfilling, and meeting other artists on Instagram along the way who show their support has been an unexpected added bonus. I love seeing how much creativity there is in the world. It reminds me that there is so much beauty out there, you just have to look at it from the right angle.


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