What's going on over here?
My mission statement
Hi, my name is Alexandra, and I’m an American illustrator living in the north of Italy. I wanted to start this Substack to track my artistic progress, both personally and professionally.
I try to travel to draw inspiration whenever possible, so any day trips, museum visits, and longer stays will be documented here.
What I really want to achieve here, though, is to have some deep reflection about the space in-between projects. Since I graduated, I’ve been grinding hard—one piece after another, cold emails, competitions, the works. And it worked. I had a lot of success in my first few years as an illustrator.
Looking back, it’s crazy that one of my first projects was Absolut, and I landed it less than a year after I was handed a diploma. I had hit on something that worked, and I ran with it.
Years later, though, I feel I’ve hit a wall. I’m a different person, I live in a different city, I’m in my 30s. I’m ready to re-center my intentions when I create my illustrations. Most of all, I think it’s time I got an Italian driver's license.
Which brings me to why I even mention my nationality and location.
Recently, I’ve come to truly accept that living in a foreign country takes up a lot of time. The language barrier is ever-present, although I speak Italian. However, it’s never going to be perfect (although it is quite good), and my howdy-accent will never disappear. It will always take a second longer to organize my thoughts in my second language, and those seconds add up.
Wading through paperwork for visas every year and a half is always stress-inducing. Anyone who’s applied for a visa knows that after the paperwork is done, the actual terror is waiting to find out if it’s been approved or not. This round, I’ve found a lawyer, so thankfully I’m not white-knuckling my way through the wait.
So what’s next?
I’ve started to make more illustrations for myself. If I’m not having fun, I’m going to punt my artwork into the sun and start again.
What do I like to draw?
Buildings, plants, portraits—all of these things together with dramatic angles and lighting. All of that plus humor.
How do I make that work?
Great question. I’ve figured it out before, so I’ll figured it out again.