It's not a secret I'm a people pleaser. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in ways that aren't great for me as a person. And it's not simply a trauma response; I genuinely like doing thinks for other people and get a lot of vicarious enjoyment out of seeing other people happy.
Over the past year or so I've been doing a lot of scrolls, often with very tight deadlines. I haven't minded doing it, because the best thing about scrolls is they are art that has a home to go to and make people happy. But it hasn't always served me as far as developing and improving my skills.
So after the most recent Coronation, and a chat with the Sylvan Signet's office, I am slowing down. Not stopping making scrolls, but not priding myself on being the person to go to when you need this done in 3 days, and it needs to be very personal as well.
I want to do the best I can for myself and my own growth and satisfaction, not just for other people. And I believe future scroll recipients will benefit from me working more slowly and developing my skillset.
This scroll in progress is already showing the cleanest outline work I've done, whether because I took several weeks of from painting to get ready for my work season starting, or because the deadline isn't looming just out of sight, I don't know. But I was able to enjoy making art for art's sake, and for my sake, as well as for the sake of the kingdom and recipient.
And it is a beautiful day out, so now I am going to try and get some pictures of the differences between how calf hides and lamb hides act while being degrained. There's a reason calf vellum is so costly!
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