š« Inspiration to draw on this week
Right, friends... it's time for some honesty. Showing up on Substack every week, sharing thoughts, creating images, and pushing myself to be good at thisāitās exhausting. And, if Iām honest, it feels a bit pointless.Ā
I came across a quote by Zach Pogrob (who, by the way, has some great insights). One sentence hit me hard. āObsession is showing up manically every day, while nothing changes,ā
He reminded me that while Iāve been obsessing over showing up here every week, itās actually at my drawing board where I show up for real, day in and day out.
Substack? Not so much.
Lately, Iāve felt this deep need to declutter shit not just from my life but mainly my mind - which has been a mess. To simplify everything.
You know what? That includes this space.
If you're reading this, whether youāve been with me from the start or just stumbled across my ramblingsāthank you. I mean that wholeheartedly. Or maybe you stumbled across this space as a casual observer. Itās nice to meet you, too.
But hereās the deal: I canāt spend my life waiting to feel āgood enoughā or āright enoughā. I need to show up for myself, my art, and the messy beauty that the creative muses bring into my life.
For me, showing up here is part of an ongoing process of finding my voice. And with that comes change - which admittedly is often in my case!
Sometimes, Iāll share wisdom or gratitude, but more often than not, itāll be raw, unfiltered frustration and irritation because, letās face it, I feel all the things - a LOT. And I know Iām not alone in that. Thatās why Iāll keep trying to make a home here on Substack - though, truth be told, itās more like an Airbnb. It's a place where I pop in, stay a while, and share some thoughts and art, but it will never feel like my forever home.
Itās a temporary stopover - and thatās okay. Iāll decorate it with my words and illustrations as long as Iām here. But the actual work, the messy, beautiful chaos of my creativity? That happens elsewhere - on my drawing board, in my studio, and in the day-to-day of life. Substack is a place to visit and connect, but itās not where my creative roots are planted.
Iām a peri-menopausal, knackered, and yet ridiculously grateful woman - overflowing with love for my wonderful family. Thatās what truly matters - not all the other noise.
Will I press āpublishā on this post? Absolutely. Iām writing like no oneās reading or cares - thatās the point. No algorithm, no doing things right, no making 6 figure sums or however many gazillion followers or subscribers. Just life between the lines of my drawings.
Forever grumpy, happy, anxious, delighted, and totally baffled by this life as an artist,
Stay creative, my friends
š¬ A quote to live by
Obsession is showing up manically every day, while nothing changes, until one piece of work changes everything.
Overnight success is hidden under thousands of quiet nights.
You touch The Pinnacle a few times in your life, at most. And those moments are what make you.
~ Zach Pograb, inspirational dude for artists, atheletes, entrepreneurs and anyone who find themselves obsessed.
š©š»āšØ Something I made
Iām playing with some new print design for the new website that will seemingly never be ready š
š· And finallyā¦the week in 3
Date night: my first Aperol Spritz. It wasnāt for me.
Smaller, quicker drawings - they take 2 hours instead of 2 weeks.
Brotherly love!
Which three photos from your camera roll best capture your week?
Share them here on the chat thread
Great post Georgie , can I just say Georgie I havenāt been on Substack long as I came off all social media in lockdown as I had a life changing operation. I really didnāt want a pity party and personally while I was nursing my wounds viewing others success during lockdown , I stepped away for my sanity .
I am now retired and working on my dream of being an artist , studying botanical illustration. Iām not interested in promoting myself , I had years of that and it often seemed so false . This is for me now not how many likes I get so I just enjoy reading the posts and seeing others art . I an honestly say that you are one of my favourite as I can feel your honesty , even online your congruence shows through . Always be yourself , post because you want to not because you have to . The people who like your work will be there . Hope this makes sence x
I think you have to find how you personally want to use this space - which seems to be exactly what you're doing. I have been putting daily drawings *and* daily words on Substack this past week (not emailing them out) and I am 100% finding the daily drawings incredibly helpful in a tonne of ways and the daily words much less so, so I will probably drop those. On the other hand, I found myself picking up and writing in a physical journal, that I hadn't written in since last year, and that felt *good*. I think a lot of that is because in the physical journal that is only for me I can share things I want to get out of my head that I can't share publicly on the internet - e.g. things related to my kids who have specifically said they don't want their lives shared publicly any more (while both loving reading back over the stuff I wrote when they were kids!), or work-related moans that I can't share because it would not be professional and clients would obviously not appreciate it. But I also think the physicality of writing by hand helps, too.
Anyway, all that is to conclude what I said at the start - make this space what you need and want it to be. Unless you're specifically aiming for it to be a considerable chunk of income, there is literally nothing more you need to do. You can write something once a year, three times a day. You can read nothing else on Substack or gorge on Notes while you drink your morning tea/coffee/lemon water! For me, I think that's the beauty of it - that it can be what you want and need it to be, rather than what some algorithm tells you it has to be.