All about, the world will change.
The leaves will blush, then rustle and fall
Into a crunchy carpet.
Fruits hang heavy in the trees
A chill breath whistles in the breeze,
And in that time betwixt Summer’s warmth and Winter’s age,
as the last sunbeams play among the green, there is a golden glow in all…
A secret beauty, a precious moment where the world is mine.
– Hello again! This post has been a long time coming, as the past few weeks have been rather busy! But the summer is coming slowly to a close, and we are fast approaching one of my favourite seasons!
I have just returned from a wonderful camping trip with my unit of Girl Guides, which inspired the words above- among my duties of “handyman” (any job that needed helping with) and first aid assistant I found a spare five minutes to stand in a tree, looking out into fields as the sun dipped behind a hill. If anyone was to ever ask me what my favourite colour was, I decided then and there that I would simply tell them to wait, and they would see. To take them to where the sun was setting behind a tree, and point to where its last light hits the leaves in the trees above. That is my favourite colour, I would reply: a green touched by light, a golden green that only lasts minutes, but is very special to me. It is a colour that reminds me of time spent alone, just walking and looking, and smiling because our world is really quite magic.
As you can probably tell with this poetic attitude, this has been a good summer. It has been a weird one, but I’ve had plenty to keep me busy. Following my own advice from the previous post, I have been diligent in continuing to send out antennae into the art world, looking for work. Some possible opportunities, that should come to fruition over the next couple of months, could even turn into a regular spot. For example, a shop wants to sell landscapes of mine once a space has opened up, and I have been added to the database of an independent publishing house fairly locally, and will hopefully be matched up with an exciting project soon with them. BOTH OF THESE WILL BE PAID!
I’m in the process of looking for standard 9-5 jobs too, ideally related to books or gallery work. A few opportunities I’ve looked up would be voluntary, but might only be required a couple of times a month (easily fitted around a schedule that may grow busy!) This way, I could still learn a lot of new skills, meet new people and get involved with a lot of fun projects, but still be flexible.
It’s little victories like these that renew my hopes of being a children’s illustrator. Speaking of which, as promised, a little bit about my previous success:
I have never won anything before. Not bingo in primary school, not games at classmate’s parties. But back at the beginning of July, I heard that I had won the Student Dylan Thomas Art and Design Award. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I charged all round the house cackling with glee, I DID IT!
Here is the piece I entered, entitled “A Multitude of Mixed Birds”, based on Thomas’ prose describing Laugharne and the folk that live there, human and animal. The presentation evening was nerve-racking, but very splendid- very posh, and everyone was incredibly friendly. I shook a lot of hands and even got a hug from one lady! And of course, I had wonderful support from my family and loved ones being there too, so despite having a little filmed interview to do, and a few photos to pose for, I wasn’t too scared. It was actually incredibly exciting to get home and see my picture flicker across a couple of online news items!
But something I said in the interview, and something that I still believe now: I never thought I had a hope in hell’s chance of getting through to the final of that competition, let alone winning it. But it meant a huge amount to me, to my confidence, this little victory: it gave me a little more fire, a little glow in the dark road ahead that let me know that I was on the right path, and that one day, I might just “make it.”
That one day, I might look back on all I’ve accomplished, and say, “Yes, I followed a dream, and I used it to reach out to people, to touch their lives as well as my own. I can be proud of a life that was not always easy, but always promised happiness: bright, full and rich.” A lot like the green I described at the beginning of this post: a colour full of so many different shades, glowing with light and vigour.
And that is how I aim to live. 🙂
– The AutumnHobbit.
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