The Crow
Hi Steemians!
Today I decided to share an older artwork of mine that has an interesting story behind it. I painted this picture in August 2018 after reading an article in a magazine called Womankind. The article essentially said that we all have a "dark" side and at least some undesirable traits, and while we still should strive to become better people, we should also accept that we're never going to be perfect. I thought it was an interesting idea and it made me think about what am I willing to accept about myself.
I've always been told that I have a "resting bitch face", even though I don't always feel the way I look. However, I always feel fake when trying to force a smile, and frankly, I'd rather people thought that I'm annoyed than disingenuous. Secondly, I have this "gift" of instantly predicting everything that could go wrong with a given scenario, which may be useful, but definitely isn't too likeable. This reminds me of crows, who are considered a bad omen in many cultures. I've realised I can't possibly stop these thoughts from coming, so I might as well try to welcome them but perhaps be mindful not to overshare.
Now, fast-forward to February 2019. I decided to cold call a publisher I liked to ask if they had any illustration jobs for me. Coincidentally, a famous Czech author had just submitted a manuscript of a book titled – wait for it – Crows. It's a story about a girl who isn't accepted by her family because of her differences, but there is nothing she can do about it – she is who she is. The publisher immediately chose to use this artwork on the cover, which is only time something like this has happened to me so far. The book was published in January this year and I think it's doing quite well.
What is the lesson I take from this? I guess – don't be afraid to embrace your dark side, it resonates with people! As long as you don't become a full-on Sith, it might make you feel more in touch with yourself.
I'm not particularly social yet I end up here as I am attracted to dark themes.
Absolutely beautiful piece :)
The Steem blockchain is currently being attacked by a central authority in order to take control of the witnesses. If you are not managing your witness votes, please consider setting @berniesanders as your witness voting proxy by clicking here to help restore the decentralization of Steem.
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
Manually curated by @georgeboya.
@helpie is a Community Witness.
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here
Beautiful artwork, and a really cool story to go along with it! How serendipitous that you felt compelled to make this piece, and to call the publisher, who just received the manuscript - amazing!
That is a fortuitous turn of events with your cold call. I wish you the very best in your artistic endeavors! It's truly inspiring to read these kinds of stories, the ones about "normal everyday people" in their shift to becoming "heavy hitters". Thank you for sharing it here!
Definitely.
Also, are you familiar with the lyrics to Tool's Forty-Six & 2? They touch on the dark side in that one. It came to mind when I read your quoted text above.
@ryivhnn, what are the odds!?
@tereza.basarova, we were just talking about the resting bitch face a few days ago, and now, completely unrelated and unexpected, here it is in your post. Ha!
I love this piece and I can also relate with the resting bitch face :D I have included this post in my weekly curation Ocean of Art!