When things first started shutting down in March, I could not imagine how so much would change for so many.  In addition to my studio practice, I am an art educator.  We began moving everything online right away and the first weeks for me, entailed a lot of learning to use technology differently to be able to support my students the best I could.  That also meant that I did not have much time to work much on my own practice.   When I was able to start working in the studio again, my happy place, I did not feel like what I was doing was worthwhile compared to what was happening around me.  I continued to work as often as I could, some days were better than others, but for me keeping productive just makes me feel happier.  I started thinking about what I could do to connect with community more while keeping isolated.  I decided to put a call out on Instagram asking if anyone would be interested in submitting photographs of themselves to me to draw.  I asked for participants to send in photos that were taken during isolation.  The post was shared on my IG and then shared by a few other super supportive friends.  I was overwhelmed with how many wanted to participate.  So many interesting faces of so many people.  Most, strangers to me.  All experiencing these changes alone, together.  When I’m done, I hope to be able to show them somehow like that as well.  Together.

I’ve been slowly working my way through the photographs not knowing  how many I will actually be able to do.  I’ll draw as many as I can…   As I work through them, I am noticing that they are giving me the opportunity to work differently.  I find that I am not as concerned with them looking a specific way when I’m finished.  I’m allowing myself to start to experiment more and am really excited with how these are changing how I draw.  We’ll see where they go and how they will change how I work with my materials down the line.  I’m excited to see what will happen.