Jessica Backup

Things have been a bit of a struggle lately. I’ve been feeling really insecure about my art, and the changes it’s going under. My art has had a kind of cohesive style for the last 2-3 years. It’s been dark and moody and has looked a lot like space, to pretty much sum it up. This style has given me a lot of things. It gave me my first sales in my shop, it gave me pretty much all of my followers on Instagram and Twitter, and in a way it has given me a lot of friends through the people who I have found through those followers.

This post is sponsored by Creativ Company.  Few things are as limiting as perfectionism. Many times, perfectionism can stop you from getting what you want and to where you want, and especially within the creative field. Striving for perfection is rarely a very productive thing, and I think almost devastating when it comes to art (especially since there is no such thing as perfect art). I thought I had freed myself from perfectionism, but when I started experimenting with a technique completely new to me – painting abstractly with acrylics – I really struggled. I’m not through it yet, but I thought I’d share a few tips that I think have helped and that have been important to me during this process.  If you want to try painting abstractly with acrylics you can purchase your materials on Creativ Company’s website .  I really had to stop and remind myself that “done is better than perfect” so many times. Acrylics are tricky in that way, as it...

It’s really hard being a happy creative . For the past few months, it’s been nearly impossible for me. During the first six months of this year I’ve been experimenting quite a lot when it comes to creating. I have made some things I’m really proud of, and I’ve learned a lot, but the pressure I’ve been putting on myself to constantly create something completely new has been really bad for my mental health. At the start of the summer, I was in a pretty bad state, but I didn’t even realise it. I thought I was just doing what I was “supposed” to do, that I was being a successful creative who kept pushing my limits and thinking of new things. I started to lose interest in creating, but kept pushing, I experimented with acrylic paint and pushed myself until I was exhausted, sitting in front of the canvas crying with the brush still in my hand. I still want to learn the things I was on my way to learn during that time, but I need to t...

I’ve always enjoyed art with that perfect amount of negative space so much. It just feels so balanced, with a lot of room for the art to breathe, and for the viewer to rest. Despite this I’ve never really used a lot of negative space in my own work – they’ve always been a bit intense all over. I’ve decided I want to learn how to use negative space, and have therefore challenged myself to use it for a while. Very specific challenge, I know. Basically I want to actually practice on the things I want to improve, rather than repeating things I’ve already “mastered”. I also knew that this would mean I would have to introduce some new type of elements into my art, which made me turn to the ever growing resource for artists that is Unsplash . The first original picture below is actually found through a site called Pexels  (which I found through this post by Outline Amy! ) but basically they’re all royalty free stock photos that I...

HEYOOOOOOO I have a new video for you today!! It’s about creative routines and creating daily, and my thoughts on the matter. So basically I’ve already started creating daily. I’m not making a hashtag for it, I’m not really sharing a picture every day about it on Instagram, because I’m not finishing pieces every day, and sometimes there’s nothing to show but that’s okay. All I really want is to experiment and learn, which is what I love about creativity anyway so I’m happy.

Here’s the thing: there is no right and wrong when it comes to art. Whatever you are making is the right thing, and I want you to remember that. When I was 14-15 years old I started taking pictures quite a lot, and I quickly fell in love with photography. I mostly took pictures of leaves and flowers really, but I absolutely loved it and I was always so proud of my images. When I existed within my own world of creating, I kind of didn’t even think in terms of “How could this be better?”. The images were just there, and I liked them, and that was everything I needed. It wasn’t until I joined a class of almost 30 other photography interested teenagers in high school that I started to really feel insecure about my photography, because suddenly realised how “different” my stuff was from what the other people in that class created. The main thing that I realised was that I never took pictures of people, and I didn’t want to. (Note: It wasn...

Things have changed in my life since last time we “spoke”, and I’ve started a course on Youtube and videomaking for Youtube! It started last week, and it’s already so much fun and fits me perfectly as I’m trying to get better from my #summerfromhell. One of the assignments this week was to do some visual storytelling, but the instructions told us to keep it simple so I was like “well I’ll just tell the story of me painting then”. But that video didn’t feel interesting enough for my actual Youtube-channel, so I talked a little bit about how happy I am to have started painting again, and the meaning of creating using your hands. It’s a pretty short one, but I hope you’ll enjoy! This video was also like the first time I really got to use my fancy new camera and film something pretty with it (although it might have been overkill with the depth of field, but meh) which was SO MUCH FUN. Moving the camera around all the tim...

I’m kind of blown away myself, I mean – videos two weeks in a row!! But I’m actually really hyped about making videos at the moment so I guess it makes sense. SO MUCH FUN. This one is about creative blocks!! And how to get out of them. ENJOY.

Aight, time for another video! I know, it was months since I filmed last time, but I got a new camera and I feel super excited about filming more again SO YEAH. Anyway, this time we’re watching me paint! More specifically I’m painting my contribution to the new weekly challenge called DoodleTube! It started last week and is already an amazing community over on Twitter, and I’m so happy that it exists! CHECK OUT DOODLETUBE HERE.  It got me thinking about how important creative communities are though, and that’s what I talk a little bit about in this video. And also how salt didn’t work on my black watercolour. Life is such a struggle. ANYWAY. CHECK IT OUT woop.

I’ve made another video!! It’s only been like two months since the last one, but aaaaaaaanyway! Here it is! I was at a Youtube event organised by Influencers of Sweden last week and got SUPER HYPED about making videos! So hyped in fact that I filmed and edited this video in one go, like I had some lunch but no breaks haha…. Probs not the best way to do it, but I just wanted to get it out there. Anyway, I’m discussing what an artist is as well as what it’s like to call yourself an artist in this video! I really struggle with that last part, and it’s kind of annoying, so I wanted to help EVERYONE but most of all help myself because that’s how human beings work!! Hehe. ANYWHO. ENJOY.

Alternative title : How to not feel like a lesser artist the Jessica Andersdotter way: think about it! Also: Way too long post with some random pictures to make it lighter And lastly: Kind of interesting actually.  Sup guys. What’s crackalackin? Personally I’m kind of excited, because I’ve been having ~*thinking sessions*~ about my ~*art*~ and had some ~*insights*~. The reason behind this is actually called “art school”. More specifically “application for art school”, where I need to write a kind of description of myself as an artist. Which seemed really hard but turned out to be MIND BLOWING and SO MUCH FUN. So today we’re gonna discuss my identity as an artist a little bit (a lot bit actually), and my journey to finally maybe feeling like I’m actually a “worthy” artist. The rational part of my brain has known that me not being “worthy” is utter bullshit for a while now, but then there’s that ins...

– Having ideas – Having no ideas – Creating new things – Creating something and realising someone else has created it before – To be brave – To be scared – Believing in yourself – Doubting yourself – Staying up all night creating – Staying up all night procrastinating – Not being able to sleep because you have so many ideas – Not being able to sleep because you have no ideas – Everything – Nothing Creativity is a rollercoaster. You never know what up or down or upside down you’ll be the next day, but you just have to work it the best you can. It’s messy, but you just have to embrace that mess. ( Read here about why you should keep your ideas in an ordered mess . It’s really interesting. Creative Something is my new favourite website.) Honestly though, I really like this definition from Creative Something : “Imagination allows us to think of things that aren’t real or around us a...

Time for me to –  yet again – take up my creative challenge! It was initially started in November 2014, but was kind of resurrected in April this year and then died again pretty quickly. Rest in peace, Challenge. Anyway, I got through a few more points on my list that spring but didn’t get very far, mostly because one step just went HORRIBLE and I hated everything for a while. But now I’m performing another demonic ritual and trying to resurrect this beast once and for all! Wish me luck. What’s the challenge? I’ve made a list of (currently) almost 20 different techniques/materials for me to have as a starting point for when I want to create something. This list contains everything from making something in the computer to making something out of wool, and is supposed to help me get started. A lot of times I just get overwhelmed by all the possibilities and just don’t do anything. But here’s the thing – as a multi-creator (that’s...

English version at the end. Det skiftar från dag till dag, vad som ger en inspiration, och det kan ju som vara lite vad som helst. Ibland är det ett blogginlägg, ett foto eller en diskussion och vissa gånger är det bara hur ljuset bryts i ett glas. Papperskorpen gjorde jag till Monthly Makers allra första tema . Jag hade ont i nacken i en hel vecka efter att jag gjorde den men det var det värt för jag älskar den så. Kanske älskar jag den lite extra för att jag fått inspiration till den från något alldeles särskilt – nämligen sådant jag skapat själv. Uppenbarligen så är jag, som det kreativa geni jag är, den ultimata inspirationskällan! Nej okej, inte riktigt så, det här handlar faktiskt om något jag gjorde när jag var barn. Jag började rita fåglar på det här sättet, med utsträckta vingar och rakt framifrån, när jag var kanske sex år gammal, och jag minns fortfarande den dagen jag “kom på” att jag kunde rita dem såhär. Jag satt där i klassrummet som vanligt, och plö...