staying creative after the election.
Hello.
I want to start off by saying that I am by no means a great writer. This blog is simply to share my thoughts about creativity, illustration, and the world. I apologize for my first blog post ever being quite a downer.
I do love a good dialogue, so please feel free to comment or, if you’re shy, you can email me your thoughts at hello@isabellbrumagen.com. I’d love to hear anything even if it’s just a smiley face. :^)
Sooooo…
It’s been a rough week so far, my American friends… maybe even the non-American friends, too. I really hope you’re taking care of yourselves out there. We all mourn together, and it is best to do so surrounded by people you love.
Don’t grieve alone.
To bring people together, an ice cream shop in my area promoted free ice cream on the 6th. The post originally said “Spread love” or something along those lines. I’m not sure why they deleted it. The line was long, but kind of somber. People were joking and smiling which was lovely to see. I couldn’t help but draw some connections to 9/12/2001, the day after the 9/11 disaster. I am too young to actually remember the day, but there is a video on YouTube documenting the energy of NYC. One of the most notable things about it is the grief as well as the abundance of people showing up for each other. They did so by playing music in the parks, leaving flowers, and even a movie theater offering free movies with a soda and popcorn. The free ice cream made me think of that. Of course, 9/11 was felt by everyone regardless of political party, and I am not saying that the election results and the disaster are the same. It’s just a small connection I made in my head.
A similar feeling was felt while I spent whole days playing Webfishing around election day. Webfishing is a cutesy chatroom fishing game that I really recommend if you’re feeling alone. I joined public servers out of curiosity, and I found that people on there were overwhelmingly kind. There was this unspoken rule across all servers that no one talked politics because we were all escaping. We were all scared.
This collective grief and fear makes being creative really difficult for me. I am definitely not alone in this. We’re all fearing for our futures, so of course we can’t draw some silly little guys with our thoughts racing. I have seen social media posts of people begging others to not quit their creative projects because “what is the point.” This is such dangerous thinking especially in a time where AI threatens the careers of creatives. If you are thinking about not making art anymore, keep making art. I don’t care how mundane or meaningless you view your work. We are creatures that depend on being creative in any way. Do it for yourself and do it for others for couldn’t. You don’t ever have to post about it. Be “greedy” and keep it all to yourself if you want.
I leave you with a to-do list of sorts. You don’t have to do it all. It’s just some ideas to help your creative self. Inspired by Julia Cameron’s book: The Artist’s Way.
Go to art galleries
Join art-centric discord groups or participate in the art channels of servers you’re already in
Check in on your friends
Spread love
Go outside if you can
Get yourself a treat if you can
Try Webfishing; it’s $5 on Steam
Delete Twitter and Facebook; they are toxic for your mental health
Start journaling
Start a blog
See a movie either at a theater or in your home
Watch Over the Garden Wall because it’s autumn and it’s a wonderful show
Build some legos
Pick up a creative outlet that you usually wouldn’t do and that is accessible to you; i.e. crochet
Pet your animals if you have any or if you can pet them (like don’t pet your tarantula if you have a Green Bottle Blue or something)
Listen to guilty pleasure music like Britney Spears
Read a guilty pleasure book like those enemy to lovers romance books
Scrapbook or collect trinkets; the cheaper the better
Most importantly, continue to vote for the planet, your trans friends, your BIPOC friends, your queer friends, your kids, your kids food safety, our weather infrastructure, our education systems, the young men and women preyed on by military recruiters, so so so many lives lost due to bigotry, and more.
Again, I’m not the best writer. I went to art school to draw for god’s sake. This blog is mainly for me to just talk, and if you like it, sweet! Future posts will be more positive, I promise. I will also be sharing more art things.
Let me know your thoughts if you want in the comments or in an email.
You’re the best. Take care. <3