Art in the wake of the flu

Every so often, I feel a bubble rising within me that can only be released through a form of creative expression other than writing; mostly that means that I feel the urge to draw or paint. Sometimes, if I'm sick or otherwise not my usual self, I'll whip out a coloring book and a little bit of that will quell the rising need to be artistic. This happened during my almost-three-week bout with the flu and the secondary infection that followed. I wanted desperately to draw something and I tried, but I ended up just digging in my coloring drawer for my box of well-loved crayons (sorted in plastic baggies by hue) and my ancient Egyptian coloring book.

Now that my illness is finally leaving me for good, I feel that little creative bubble growing steadily and I don't think coloring is going to do it. I tried to quash it over the weekend by creating a couple of new Sims 3 families, but that didn't work, although the families turned out well. In fact, I think that just made it worse. Then Ryan got me this lovely little plastic organizer thing on cute little casters for my art supplies and I had a magnificent time sorting my acrylics, brushes, fabric paints, markers, colored pencils, sketch pads, charcoal, sketching pencils and other arty notions into the four drawers. When I put the little oil paint set my parents got me into the drawer, I felt that they needed to be used again. Oh boy.

Last time I used the oil paints, this is what happened:
<- I'll post a better picture later...or maybe not.

It took me a whole weekend and it turned out ok, but for some reason I don't think I could ever do any better; I'm afraid I'll do worse. The Lady Elizabeth looks bug-eyed, tiny-mouthed and has a pallor reminiscent of a ghost recovering from jaundice. Overall, I'll admit it wasn't a bad first attempt at oil painting, but I still can't decide if I'm proud of it or dismissive. I put it on the wall with thumbtacks because the most awesome part of the picture is visible only when you stand real close to it. You see, the strokes of the brush that left tracks in the paint come together to form a skull. I have no idea how it happened, but it was rather eerie when Ryan first pointed it out to me; he was thrilled.

For some reason, I'm tempted to attempt a landscape, but I'll bet I will stick to a portrait. I tried to sketch a pensive Marilyn Monroe on an unused canvas board a while ago, but she made me sad. I couldn't finish her and put her aside. For some reason, I'm wondering if I can try Rapunzel from Disney's "Tangled." (Yes, my obsessive nature has forced me to absolutely adore most anything to do with this latest animated Disney movie and its story and there's nothing I can or want to do about it.) The luminescence of her hair is striking and I'd love to try out this method of adding light to an oil painting that I once read about in a fiction book somewhere. (Maybe it was in Girl with a Pearl Earring, but I can't remember exactly.) Hmm...might wait until I get the art book for "Tangled" in a month or two, though. Dunno.

Edit: Just had to laugh at myself. I reread this once I posted it and then looked at my other two posts; each one highlighted some point of indecision on my part. A central tenet of my life, indecision. Just found that funny is all. (Or maybe not.) HA! ...sorry.