Illustration Friday: Prepare

This week's topic is something I have been thinking about a lot, both in terms of individual projects, but also your whole life trajectory. You have to know what you want, or at least what direction you want to be moving in, and then prepare for that, so that when opportunities arise, you will be ready. It's part of saying "yes" to the universe.

I was visiting with a friend yesterday whom I hadn't seen for a long time, and she has a part time job working for a book-binder, one who does custom jobs with beautiful beautiful original artwork. She was telling me how beautiful all his work is, and how much she loves every single thing in his shop. So how does one go from loving something like that to working for someone like that? Well, she was prepared. Not deliberately. Not saying "I want to work for this guy," but every single time she had the opportunity to go into his shop, she did. She asked questions. She obviously loved it. And one day she said, "I wish I could stay here forever," and he said, "You should be my apprentice," and so she did. She didn't get paid at first, but now she does. It doesn't pay as much as her other job (which she doesn't love), but she made room and made time to do the thing she loved doing.

And we're all doing that with art. We have paper, and art supplies, and we start projects, and make sketches, and do all these things, even when we don't really have time for them. I am making sure that I am prepared for something to happen.