Navigating Influences

Jun 19

Written By Sonia Wilkinson

I began this piece wanting to try something new—no face, just bold lines, muted colours, and texture.

In the midst of working on it, I decided to share a work-in-progress shot on Instagram. That is what artists do.

Next thing I know, a well-respected artist friend of mine bursts out with, "Stop! Stop right there. You're done."

But... but…….. but….

I didn't feel done! I suddenly felt like a child who was told they couldn't play anymore.

I knew she meant well, but this became every artist’s conundrum.

Do I stop and have the artwork whisper in my ear, ‘You should have done more...’? Or do I keep going, risking hurting her feelings? What if she was right? What if I plowed ahead and overdid it? (gasp!)

It's not as though I could have struck up a conversation with her about it or anything. Nooooo! I’m an internal war zone kinda gal.

The rebel in me couldn’t leave it alone.

In the end, I kept going and finished it on my own terms.

Thus, the story of this artwork and the meaning behind it became about the frikkin challenges of navigating advice, indecision, and self-doubt. What to follow? What to ignore?

It was a nail-biter, but for my first step down the path of adding mad scientist textures and mediums to my graphic line art, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.