So for the last two month’s (or has it been three?) I’ve been working on the final art for an upcoming book. I finally finished last week and what a relief! Don’t get me wrong, I loved making it (and I hope it will show!) but it was all consuming and I’m glad to put a fork in it. As I turned in the art, I told my editor I wasn’t even sure what it all looked like anymore because I had been staring at it for so long. She said that was very common at the end of a project and that I should take a break from art and writing for a few days. I thought that sounded like a grand idea. My wife was out of town, my kids were at a sleepover and I had the house all to myself. So I bought myself some grocery store sushi (not as scary as it sounds..this time) and a video game. I was going to have some mindless me time!

Oh man…I should totally title this painting “Sliced Ginger”

It was only an hour and a half before I found myself turning off the video game and heading to the studio to paint. I had one job! Don’t make art, don’t write! And there I was painting! Now to be fair, i wasn’t making an illustration, I wasn’t doing a job. I wasn’t trying to make anything profound. I was just mindlessly painting with zero pressure for it to look like anything. It was like those little slices of ginger that come with the aforementioned, completely passable grocery store sushi. Not great or yummy but effective at telling me I’m done with one flavor and about to start another. At least that’s what I think the ginger is for. Am I doing it right?