Artisanal Contemplations

With a renewed intentional focus on what direction to go with my need to create, I’ve updated the name of this newsletter from Imperfectly Laura’s Artistic Contemplations to Artisanal Contemplation. It felt pertinent to communicate more clearly the initial idea behind my publication and the direction I’d like to go with any artwork or writing that I may share going forward. The words were carefully selected, based on some definitions found in different dictionaries, both online and off, that resonated with me. Below are the dictionary definitions according to Merriam Webster:

Artisanal is a bit of an update from the term “artistic.” While both terms could still apply, I felt artisanal was a bit more descriptive. I am only one person, meaning I can only create a limited amount of whatever I choose to offer without overextending my capacity to continue creating. And when it comes to art, I have studied it for decades. Most of my studies have been more informal, with formal classes here and there as I could afford them. I greatly enjoyed learning about so many different fundamental elements that make a huge impact on the final artwork or illustration. It was also fascinating to see the different choices made by other artists given the same prompt or challenge by our instructor when it came to completing assignments.

Contemplation felt pertinent to put alongside artisanal because it communicates that there is sustained attention and focus on understanding the traditional ways of doing things when it comes to learning any new skill. And almost any artist, writer, or other skilled tradesperson will resonate with this term nearly instinctively. It’s what slows us down to consider the scientific reasons behind doing things a certain way or in a particular order. It’s also how we understand what the benefits and/or drawbacks are for skipping steps in a needed process. There are always reasons, whether good or bad, for why certain methods are applied by generation after generation of workers in the same skilled craft. And it’s why I appreciate all of the opportunities I’ve been given to learn more, especially with more formal instruction where appropriate. I am also grateful to those who willing and able to teach on a more informal basis for those without the financial means to afford traditional and sometimes costly trainings.

Art has been and always will be how I stay connected to myself, to my intuition, to my soul - whatever you want to call it. Art, in any form, is how I stay grounded in an ever-changing world that is constantly asking so much of us as human beings.

The last Christmas gift my maternal grandmother gave me before she died was a coloring book when I was around 9 years old. She noticed my love of coloring as a toddler and saw something in me before I had words for it: an inclination toward making things, and toward the quiet focus that comes with creating. My uncle has continued that tradition, getting me art supplies every year. Last year it was an artist’s drafting table with adjustable easel built into it. The year before was a complete set of Arteza colored pencils. This year was a set of Derwent Inktense pencils and a kit to make watercolors. These gifts remind me that art existed in my life before trauma, before I needed it as a grounding practice back when I was a toddler. Before I knew the cruelty that exists in the real world and what I’d be personally exposed to.

When I create, I’m not ruminating on pain or claiming permanent victimhood. I’m finding my way back to myself—to the version of me that existed before I learned to scan for danger, before my nervous system catalogued violence. Most of my work is inspired by positive experiences, by beauty I notice in the present moment. The pieces inspired by specific trauma get sketched and released; I don’t need to return to them repeatedly, retraumatizing myself.

Art gives me the slightest bit of stability in a world that hasn’t always provided much of that. It’s how I remember who I am at my core when everything else feels uncertain. Not dwelling in the past, but grounding myself in the present so I can keep moving forward.

While the forms of art may transform and vary from one to another, I’ve noticed this is a feature of my ability to adapt when necessary and how there is overlap in skillsets from one art form to another. Recently, I’ve gotten more interested in baking and made both pretzels and bagels. It was fun to see that intersection of skills within science, art, and chemistry when it came to combining the ingredients, and then shaping the dough, before finally enjoying the end result after hours of effort towards making something fulfilling in a multitude of contexts.

And there is an abundance of joy in creating artwork for another to enjoy upon completion. More recently, I’ve come to discover even more abundant joy in offering a basic template or set of steps to complete something and watching how others interpret it, including which steps they personally felt unnecessary and skipped over. Sometimes it reminds of the exercise in this video, which is one I remember being assigned to my class in 3rd grade which gives context for why explicit explanations are sometimes more helpful than brevity or relying on assumptions that may not actually be shared:

I greatly enjoyed this assignment when it was assigned to our third grade class back in elementary school. It was challenging, for sure, to make sure the instructional guide we created was thorough and detailed enough for the end result to be what we intended.

Throughout this process, it’s where I discovered I didn’t just enjoy drawing, but writing as well. Unsurprising for a voracious reader such as myself that I would eventually want to write my own story someday. Which is why a more intentional focus of mine this year is going to be working on a coloring book based upon my current artwork along with some newer ideas I’ve had. It combines the multiple desires, interests, and passions in a way that is much more cohesive than I could’ve ever dreamt of prior to now. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt a sense of direction and purpose in my life like this, so I hope you’ll support and join me on this journey. One of my goals is to release at least one new coloring page per month for the foreseeable future, whether that’s here on Substack, over on Ko-Fi, or on my personal website. It is my hope that by years end, I will have created a large enough backlog of coloring pages, released and unreleased, to officially release a coloring book that paying subscribers can download and print for their own (non-commercial) use. Below are links to where I’ll be sharing those coloring pages, and I hope you’ll stick around to see what becomes of the final coloring book at the end of this year-long project: