I am soooo ready to share today’s wallpaper freebies with you, and talk a little about re-purposing artwork.
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The story of these designs begins over a decade ago. I created a stack of abstract monoprints back in 2012, and they’ve been in my possession ever since. Mostly, collecting dust in my flat drawers. But I just couldn’t bring myself to throw away these pieces. Recently, I scanned them so I could use them as textures. I’m so happy they’re getting a little love in the form of digital art some 13 years later.
Repurposing artwork is a little secret to how I’ve avoided burnout in recent working years. But honestly, it isn’t a calculated step. It’s just how I’m wired. I’m a bit nostalgic and often find myself pouring through old journals or folders on my hard drive, and end up thinking, “This is interesting! I want to do something like this again!”
What lights me up is work that pays homage to my high school self - the passionate, prolific artist who believed it impossible to make a living by selling artwork. She left me with a stack of cool film photos, experimental school projects, and a lifelong love of journaling. And then, in college, she stopped making art entirely.
As the pendulum swings, my next step would (obviously) be to make art my career. But, it took several years of monetizing my art to get back in touch with the freedom of creating whatever I wanted. Art journaling has been the key to unlocking that intuitive side of myself, and that spirit of art making has tricked into all aspects of my work and how I show up online. I started teaching art journaling classes to share the joy of freely creating with others.
If you’re facing burnout or artist’s block, I’ll encourage you to do a couple of things. First, take a break from your immediate work. Even a short break will do! Second, take a peek through some of your older work. See if you can pick up some clues that will lead you to a new direction today.
There’s beauty in being an amateur artist, who’s passionate about a new craft and naive enough to jump in and create without regard to conventions and rules. I hope you’ll find that spirit in your earlier creations.
If you’d like to go a step further, I challenge you to repurpose some elements of your old work into your work today. Copy and paste old motifs into a new document. Cut up an old journal page and make a new one. Scan something you created before the digital era. I’m guessing somewhere you have a project that you started before you had the skills to complete it, and you left it unfinished for a day when you would be able to finish it. Maybe today will be that day!
Oh! Let me not forget to share these wallpaper freebies with you. Grab the download below, which includes a set of four wallpaper designs for your phone & desktop. Pick your favorite and set it as your background as a reminder to get a little nostalgic and see how you can repurpose old work. I hope you enjoy these freebies!