Caught up in limbo

I’m having a strange week of waiting. Which always means I lose a bit of momentum, but I also know its part of the process when an artist does a commission for a client.

After the long weeks of discussion, and question asking, and answering. Of finding out what the client wants and doesn’t want. Of listening, and planning, and then creating. And having that wonderful permission from the client to be put some artistic creation into the work. And loving the effects of it. And getting so totally caught up in the artwork in question and being happy with the end result, even when two of the fourteen illustrations I was working on didn’t look the way I wanted them to, so I did them both again and was far happier that I did that (and knowing that the client wasn’t paying me any extra money to do that since they were paying for the job done, regardless of how many extra hours I chose to put into it). And finally, sitting back, and being happy with the end result of all of it. And knowing that I had put some extra technical ability into a couple of the images so that they looked better together, and then, finally, I’ve finished.

But gave myself another half day to check over the work, to make sure that they worked well, in harmony together.

And then telling the client.

And waiting for them to get back to me.

And waiting another day for them to get back to me.

And waiting another day after that for them to get back to me.

And still waiting another day for them to get back to me.

Not that that in any way is a problem, because I know that the client will get back to me, and is probably busy with other things, and that things are happening in the background that I am not aware of. It’s just part of the artist/client partnership, and one that I am used to. This waiting.

But it also means that I can’t settle to do anything else whilst I am waiting, not artistically anyway, because my mind is still caught up with the job I’ve just finished, and until it is written off by the client, and they are happy, I won’t start another job. My momentum is tied to it, and can’t be released until I know whether the client is fully happy with the work I’ve done. Then I can rest.