Post Picture Funk Solution

You go to bed, hours later than usual, buzzing with the high of a picture at the point of only fine details to add.  It's a restless sleep.  You have nightmares of a pencil rebellion - hundreds of colors walking off the job, demanding better hours and fairer usage - grateful when the alarm goes off despite the fact your eyes are red and your pupils are still somewhat blown out.  Still, when you manage to focus, the picture isn't horrible and the pencils, ThankGawdAlmighty, are exactly where you left them, all present and accounted for!

A mug of coffee will get you jump started, the day will be long but the weariness worth it; all the things you tell yourself does not dent that feeling of being blue deviled by the crash.  I don't know how real artists do it, over and over, confronting this low after the effervescent buzz of creation! No wonder historically; starving and ridiculed, artists struggled so often against the label nutz. They sure didn't have the ease of flip a switch lighting, flush toilets, pre-made canvas, readily available papers and supplies - No amazon two day delivery. Yet, our museums are full, our history is thick, and our souls fed by those intrepid, dedicated artists that still give us wonders to behold in their works.  I am humbled and awed but definitely wishing they'd left a note or two behind about how they crawled out of the Post Picture Funk.

from The Calligrapher's Colouring Book by Renee Chin

Me, I drag out my postcards and keep on working.  What I really want to do is stare at the picture and figure out how I did this right, and this not so good, and that ... maybe no one will notice, people - regular people - seldom look closely at colorist work, right? This leads to overworking the picture and potentially wrecking it.  I make myself turn the page and look away for just that reason before fine detailing. 

Of course what I really want is a nap, a long nap, without terrors regarding pencils or my family committing me to the Asylum for the Coloring Crazies where all you get to work with are broken bits of crayons, every other Tuesday, if you're good and don't cause any trouble.  I tend to cause trouble even with the best resolutions of being good, those Tuesdays don't look hopeful for me.

So, to combat this, I got a Color Pockit. It's a minimalistic approach to reintegrating with real life as well as your inner colorist when she is in a Funk and just wants to sleep without horrors besieging her often tenuous hold on self-confidence and sanity.  Please note:  It also can fool your family in to believing "It's just a hobby, I can quit any time I want...."

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[View a Video of this Nifty Creation @ColourWithClaire an amazing colorist youtube channel]

I didn't open this Solution to the Post Picture Funk when it arrived. I was trying to avoid distractions, and I know the lure of postcards for me. My strength in resisting this new thaing isn't especially impressive.  If it was up to me I'd make Birthday and Christmas Goodie opening last at least a week, opening and savoring slowly each goodie because that's how I roll; easily overwhelmed by good thaings.  So I saved the grand opening for a Funky Day, which happened to be this one. 

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The wooden box is a bit heavier than I expected.  This is a good thaing, providing stability and awareness that you're working with tools that matter, even if you feel like a faker. The pencils are cute and functional.  They swatched out tolerably and blend about like you'd expect from off the rack pencils.  BUT, the little pencil slots will hold any 12 pencils you want, including my Derwent Coloursofts [though can't imagine risking their cores in a tragic dropage accident].  Can use it as is, or pack in my Koh-I-Noor TriTones, or pick a palette of Artezas and Colorits, or even load it up with graphite pencils and blank postcards. 

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The options of use are what appealed to me, within the postcard limitation.  I didn't expect to get artist grade pencils or Gunnell / Karlzon grade postcards.  It was the functionality away from the desk, and my doubts, that I wanted.  By the way, the postcards that come with the Color Pockit are cute as all get out and on good paper.  Since I'm still cuddling my TriTones like a new baby, I'm using them for the first postcard.  Already I feel a bit of balance and perspective returning, though I still want a nap without dreams, and for that lovely buzz of creation to return, Now, if not sooner.

Fortunately, coloring postcards gives me the latter, even without the former, but I'm still watching out for that Pencil Rebellion!