I started this work about 8 months ago. When I felt flooded with uncomfortable emotions and I didn’t know how to handle them. I needed an outlet. Some people do so by physically getting rid of the energy, I do so by finding a way to visualize what it is I’m feeling and experiencing. Sometimes with elaborate analogies only few understand, sometimes with illustrations.
So there I was, with my rucksack of uncomfortable emotions and a woman with hat I just quite couldn’t get right. I saw the potential in the first draft, tremendous potential. Potentially this would be the work I liked the most, but I couldn’t figure out how to achieve the result I had in mind. I struggled for days and decided to put it aside when my frustrations got too high. Putting a work aside to revisit it later on is super helpful and offers new perspectives. Like bread.. sometimes letting it rest for just a day upgrades it tremendously. But with this one, I never got back to it. Perhaps because I wasn’t really looking forward to voluntarily experiencing my sack of uncomfortable emotions again.
Months later I experienced the same feeling of being overwhelmed. But this time with a ton of positive emotions. I felt so much excitement and joy, I needed to let it out. I picked up this work, scrapped all unnecessary complexity and finished it within an hour.
And with that, even though I still have a million and thirty seven ideas to draw more hats, I realized this story marks the end of the series “Woman with hat”. I started this series in August 2021. It helped me process a bunch of events and emotions. It helped me to draw when I didn’t feel like it. The series is a true lookback on an eventful period in 2021/2022, but that period is over and it’s no longer serving me.
As I am entering a new period in my life, I will do so with my art as well. I have been very skittish on selling art and have never done so. However! I will be selling these works as. (It’s not said I’ll be selling other work.) Please email me if you’re interested in buying one or the series on hello@pencienne.com.
Onwards to new work!
(A tribute to Peter, who gets the best out of me)
