ArtCast Vampira 13th Hour Time Vampires

The Vampires are after me and they are probably after you too.  In this Artcast Companion I discuss the things that drain the life-force from your creative veins and how to overcome them.

They always seem to come in the coldest months when the nights are the longest.  For creatives this is the worst time.  Most of the artist and writers i know spend the last week in December preparing and getting excited for the next year.  We forget about the Elephants that are about to fall upon us in January.  Catching up on bills from the holidays, car repairs, and getting back into the routine.  All these things put a tax on Creative motivation.  When you emotionally feel like you just got hit by a bus, it is very difficult to find the motivation. Unfortunately January can be habit forming month.  In my past experiences January has put me in funks that usually take me to the end of February to get back on track.  The pattern for me is January kicks me in the balls, I muddle through the month in the fetal position. Next I spent two weeks in February drunk and depressed not making content because I haven’t made content. Eventually I get myself back on track until the fiery hell that is Florida summer hits.  Last year I preempted it.  I took a week off of work to calibrate my content at the end of Jan and rolled into Rona times with creative gusto.  This year I don’t have that luxury.  The Vampires got me good. Both the time vampires and the financial wallet draining kind.  I feel my subconscious sees this coming with this portrait selection.  I was thinking about painting Jack Burton, Zip Trader Charlie or Cate Blanchett.   In my stream I kept noticing Elvira popping up and started to think about Vampira. So I added her to the short list.  It came down to her and Jack. I could not decide and thought to trust my instincts. That is when the Elephants started falling and Vampires started coming after me. 

Week one it was a new car battery and our office manager could no longer work. So i had to take on that duty.  Week two the owner of the company had an emergency at a rental property he owns a thousand miles away. So I had to essentially run the company.  Also, flat tires.  Then on week three it was back to the mechanic for a break issue.  During this entire time at home in the command center I have been dealing with computer freeze issues.  This is why some of my streams have been ending mid sentience. The first two weeks of Jan I was using Sea of Thieves to troubleshoot my issues with Vampira sitting on the back burner.  The sadness set in last week that I had not painted much so far this year.  Right out of the gate falling on my face.  So I dusted off Photoshop and got to painting.   The thing the Vampires hate the worst is being proactive. They hit back with death mound.

The night of this session I got home and had some dinner with plans on painting afterwards.   I sat down after dinner and fired up the PC. Cracking open YouTube I was greeted with a barrage of tantalizing videos.  I started watching “Ten Dark Things You Probably Did Not Know About The Wizard of OZ”.  I started to feel myself go into a zombie like state.  My eyes glazed over and I could feel saliva pooling in a dropped corner of my mouth.  The creative part of my mind knew that what I was doing was wrong.  My Id started to justify sloth.  Things like, “It’s been a long day” and “Nobody will even notice”.  I found a moment of strength and used it.  I used it to close that tab.  I told myself just one hour.  That hour became three.  

Yet the Vampires persist.  Now writing this paragraph it is almost a week later.  The life issues kept coming at me like birdshot.  It is all good though.  Even though I am just now getting back to writing this article, I feel content that I kept moving.  Last week after work and being exhausted, I insisted on just doing something.  I live streamed working on this portrait all week.  This weekend I rearranged my work space to be more accommodating, made some awesome Sea of Thieves content, finished the Digital Sketchbook 2020 compilation video, polished the website a little, and am now finishing this.  I already have the portrait done and have to make two more posts about Vampira.  I’ll be working on a YouTube documentary about her as well over the next few weeks.  I will fight off these vampires even if I have to drink a river of tea.

Anyway, sorry for the short post today.  Don’t forget to be the best you that you can be and take it easy.