Sitting Disease

I was in a lecture a few Tuesdays ago, and the teacher mentioned sitting disease.

"Of course, we all have it. And we have to be very careful to move the body more," He said. "Now the next thing we can do to detox the body is...."

I sat there (not helping!) and thought about this as he lectured further. My hips were always tight these days. My metabolism had tanked since I stopped riding my bike to work a couple years ago and began freelancing, thus making it hard to loose weight. I don't have my standing desk any more, too. GOSH. I AM SITTING ALL THE TIME. No wonder things are going haywire.

Just this last week and a half, I took I took time off from work. Today is my very last of this "staycation". I didn't sit down much the last 10 days, instead, I walked along the beach, the pier, around museums, in and around parks. Although I didn't do a ton of vigerous exercise, I moved my body for the majority of the day, and felt amazing.

When I walked up the stairs in my house this morning, I felt a lightness that hadn't been there. My knees and hips didn't hurt! Whaaaatttt???

Since October of last year, I've had some weird issues with knee pain and weak behind muscles. I couldn't figure out why, with all the yoga and sometimes runnind, why my legs were breaking.

This brilliant infographic from juststand.org might shed light on why, if you sit for work all day, you feel crappy like I do. I'm commited to try and sit only 3-4 hours a day, rather than the average 7. My desk is taller as of one day ago (suitable for standing), my chair is a stand/sit combo chair (aka stool) which allows me to use it for support but not for sinking into, and I will march while I watch new episodes of Big Mouth if I must!

I love my hips and knees, and I'm so thankful to feel them loosen up after a crunchy 9 months. I must protect them!

Do you have a walking pracice? Use a standing desk? Take an evening walk every day?

Let me know!

IN OTHER NEWS...

Been working on a pattern for a podcast I recently joined about Disneyland attractions, called The Back Side of Water. In a past life I was a jungle cruise skipper and a mountaineer on Big Thunder Mountain with the other cohost, Alex Stewart. We're making some swag for the listeners. I love painting treats as they are so brightly colored and beautiful, and make my mouth water. Total sugar seduction.

Swag will be available June 15th!

"Sugar Rush" print of treats found at Disneyland.

Annie is an author and illustrator with books available on Amazon and local book stores. She is open for commission, too! She lives in California, and loves tea, bike rides, reading, and exploring new places.

I'm a mother fucking woman, damnit!

It's been a long and whirly month, with lots of insights and pleanty of pitfalls. But today is March 1st and it's the start of women's history month. I am reminded so hard by my dear friends that being a woman is a gift, and a contant process of unfolding.

I think so many of us (women and men) are conditioned to think that depression is bad, that our bodies defy us, that we have to always be ON, and that our looks need to be aces, too. Otherwise, who would want us? ...we say to ourselves. Who will love us? ...we wonder....

My lovely photographer friend, Brianna Shrader, wrote an article about the concept of doing something "like a girl" and how that's seen as a bad thing. Why does it have to mean weak, or less than, or floppy? I think today's society is changing that to mean strong, and capable, and loving, but I know that old programming is so ingrained into my own hard drive that I forget how I am holding myself back. And I hold myself back all the time!

Another friend, a kick ass tarot reader, Carrie Mallon, wrote a post about her personal road map to finding "home" where you feel strong, at peace, and connected to yourself. She explains how she must forge through "deserts of depression", swim in "seas of self doubt", tirelessly searching for home, and then finding that peace come for a minute, then she's lost again.

I love both of these woman because they have taught me both sides of the spectrum, and being strong means loving all parts of you.

Give Yourself and others Permission to BE WHERE YOU ARE.

Life is happening right now, and you can either enjoy it, or wish it was different. So enjoy it. Let it be what it is. Look for the flowers in that desert, and surf the seas of self doubt with a silly dance. It's your time, it's your journey, and the gifts you bring back from these experiences will give life to others as you share it. You're a rockstar.

Roadmap art by Carrie Mallon http://carriemallon.com

You are a creator, and this is YOUR STORY, DAMNIT.

If you want to do something, ain't nobody gonna hold you back but you. This includes making art, writing a book, getting strong muscles, trying out a new sport, asking out someone you have the hots for. Yaaassssssss, you can do it! Brianna is a cheerleader to the max, and she taught me to be my own cheerleader, too. Funny thing is, when you start cheering on yourself, you can't help but want to cheer on others!

Work it.

You must love and understand both parts of you. Have that conversation with yourself though tarot cards, art making, or with a friend, in order to understand where you need to balance yourself in order to grow.

Because it's all about growin', folks. We are on this planet with all these plants and animals, growin' in tandem and it so. damn. cool.

Last note: I'm doing a Year of Making for myself, where I'll make somthing new everyday. It might be a painting, and little sculpture, and stamp, whatever. It's an internal exercise since I've gotten real weird about making personal work. Like real weird y'all. Wanna join? Join my newsletter and I'll be sending out little tidbits and sending encouragement.

LOVE YOU!

Check out Brianna and Carrie on Instagram

@carriemallon @briannacaster

Annie is an author and illustrator with books available on Amazon and local book stores. She is open for commission, too! She lives in California, and loves tea, bike rides, reading, and exploring new places.

Rest and Digest

Underneight all of the paintbrushes, thick, rough, Arches paper, under the invoices, emails, sketches, digital comps, micron doodles... is nothing.

An artist is no different from the person next to them. Their gift is about constantly channeling from the cosmos and converting into a visual language. It's magical, yes. But so are many other gifts that rock.

We are all creative and have this incredible power to invent, solve problems, and express ourselves. But we don't create constantly. We consume information, download information, digest it, process it, then eliminate or express it. There are stages where we can't create, in fact, where we even need to rest. "REst and digest"- we've heard this before, right?

It's lke eating, digesting, pooping. It's like that.

Imagine, now, that you had to produce poop for a living. So you had to feed yourself and digest quickly in order to do this, alllll day. How fucking uncomfortable!

I feel like being a commercial artist is a lot like this. Some people are fine pooping art out all day. I envy those rare few. But I have a hunch that at times even they need a break.

And the others, like me, revered artists as a child. They were told they were very talented, and something there connected. The career path sounded glorified. Oh, to work on a movie like Aladdin! Oh, to paint like James Jeam! Oh, to illustrate a book like Shaun Tan.... Oh, to be as cool as they are!

In daily life, however, it is not glamerous and there is no glory. It feels unatural and forced. In order to keep up, one must consume at a higher rate, process the information timely, and constantly produce. Part of this is due to lacking expertise, and part of this is due to naivete. Because art doesn't HAVE to be held in this kind of cage. It doesn't have to conform to these rules. In fact, it won't. Even if you try to, you'll experience its power and own will.

So I come back to self care as I realize that I want a different path. And it's ok that I'm not a constantly pooping artist. I have my own cycle of consumption, digestion, and elimination, and I feel more whole and loved when I listen to it.

Annie is an author and illustrator with books available on Amazon and local book stores. She is open for commission, too! She lives in California, and loves tea, bike rides, reading, and exploring new places.

Happy New Year fancy pants people!

Happy new year wonderful people! I love taking time to let my inner child and knowing self really speak. Art is an amazing way to do this! I'm sharing a small project with you where you create your own oracle card for the year. No rules, no need to be Rembrandt.

Rather than new years resolutions, I like to realign myself. Check in. Re-adjust. We're all perfect as we are, we just tend to get a little off from our preferred center points. Sometimes way off, but that's ok. Here's a little exercise that I did to welcome my hopes for the new year. It's more right brained than a resolution and it doesn't take much time or resources. Just an intention. It gives you room to breath and discover the message throughout the year.

Check out the video above for a walk through of the project. Please post your cards and share your beautiful artwork below, or via email! I'd love to see what your soulsays, and your spirit will definitely inspire everyone elses. Believe you me!

If you want a little hand-drawn template of an oracle card, download it here

Here's what came out of me.  I used the loosest mediums I could: oil pastel, pencil, watercolor.  The goal is to NOT make it look good, but rather, make it FEEL good.

Sending you lots of warm wishes and here's to a KICK ASS year.

Annie

Remember,

I just wanted to remind you that you are powerful, you are amazing and so capable!  You really can do it if you put your heart and guts in it!