Hello! Welcome to the official rebirth of this blog. Is 2024 the perfect year to start a blog? Probably not. But the internet—namely social media—feels like such a black hole these days, that I’d rather cultivate spaces that I feel I have some creative control over, even if I am only yelling into a smaller empty room of my own creation. So if you’re here reading this, thank you! I hope you enjoy. And just a heads up, I talk briefly about some personal health stuff around pregnancy loss in this post, so if that feels hard for you, please skip it, and know that I’m sending you so much compassion.
This new year symbolizes a fresh start for me in a more weighted way than it has in years past. I feel the need to shed a skin, to shake off 2023. It was a tough year, it was an exciting year. My picture book collaboration with Sue Heavenrich The Pie that Molly Grew, came out in August. I got to work with Nickelodeon as an art director, I made a lot of personal work that I am proud of, and I landed the biggest picture book contract of my career (more on that to come). I also suffered two miscarriages, about seven months apart, and a huge chunk of my life became about blood tests, ultrasounds, supplements and hormones. If you know, you know. Luckily, I was never in an emergency-room situation, I’m physically healthy, and mentally I’m doing okay thanks to my incredible husband, friends, family and therapist. Leaning on community has been a real lesson for me this year. They come through for me, every time.
Okay, so now that you know more than you perhaps wanted to know about all that, let’s get to some art stuff! I wanted to include some of that personal stuff because art, for me, is personal, and all the things that I experience change who I am not just as a person but as an artist. The grief and successes from the past year have weirdly landed me in this new year feeling confident and curious. I think part of it is being tired of feeling stuck. And part of it is the sense that last year, with all it’s low lows and incredible highs left me with a lot of new tools that I want to take advantage of. There’s energy here brewing that I don’t want to waste. Thinking about this, and pairing it with the more familiar feeling of wanting to push further and dig deeper in my art, I found my word for 2024: EXPERIMENT.
So welcome to A YEAR OF EXPERIMENTS. Each month, I will be playing with something new in my work, be it a technique or an idea. I will create a new illustration, write a little something about creating the work, what inspired me or why I wanted to try it, and other artists I see who are doing similar things. I will also be posting more in-depth process videos about creating each piece over on my patreon for paid members.
If you’re excited about this and want to be reminded each month about these posts, subscribe to my newsletter here. And thank you for being a curious person who likes art. Thanks for being you!
Love,
Chamisa