{"id":71,"date":"2015-03-22T03:56:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T03:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/normamegraphsen.wordpress.com\/?p=71"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:39:16","slug":"a-coalescence-of-artistic-endeavors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/normasueoneil.com\/?p=71","title":{"rendered":"A Coalescence of Artistic Endeavors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_20150321_171744627\"<\/a>March 22, 2015<\/em>
Most people know me as an artist. That is understandable\u2014I spent more than fifteen years formally trained, professionally practicing, and publicly presenting myself as one. It is what I earned my degree in, and where the majority of my visible work has lived.<\/p>\n

What has taken longer to articulate\u2014both to others and to myself\u2014is that I am also a writer.<\/p>\n

Writing was never absent from my life. It existed quietly, persistently, in the background for many years. I wrote privately, instinctively, without consciously naming it as a path I intended to pursue. Only in more recent years did I begin to recognize that writing was not an accessory to my creative life, but an integral part of it.<\/p>\n

For the last several years, I have been working on a project that has lived in my imagination for nearly two decades. It has grown slowly and organically\u2014what began as a single idea has expanded into a larger narrative world, and ultimately into a novel that has since become a series in the making. The process has been both exhilarating and intimidating.<\/p>\n

When people asked what I was working on, expecting to hear about paintings or drawings, there was often a moment of confusion when I answered, \u201cI\u2019ve been writing.\u201d That pause reflected my own internal adjustment as much as theirs. I had spent years learning how to speak fluently about my art, but I was only beginning to find language for my writing.<\/p>\n

It was during this period of reflection that I realized the most natural way to bridge this gap was not by choosing one identity over the other\u2014but by acknowledging that they were already deeply connected.<\/p>\n

The kind of art I am most drawn to is narrative art\u2014art that tells a story. Likewise, my writing is intensely visual. The creative processes of drawing, painting, and writing are not separate for me; they are parallel expressions of the same impulse. Story is the common thread.<\/p>\n

As a lighthearted illustration of this idea, I often think of Gaston\u2019s line to Belle in Beauty and the Beast<\/em>: \u201cHow can you read this? There are no pictures.\u201d<\/em>
My answer is simple: I intend to illustrate my novel.<\/p>\n

This convergence of art and writing is where the idea for this blog truly began. When I spoke about my writing through the lens of my art\u2014illustrations, characters, visual worlds\u2014it suddenly became easier to share. I realized I needed a space where both could exist together, where story and image could develop side by side in anticipation of eventual publication.<\/p>\n

Starting a blog still felt daunting. I had kept my writing private for a long time, and the idea of maintaining a public platform was unfamiliar territory. My confidence wavered between excitement and fear, and I half-jokingly referred to the project as Reluctant Blogging<\/em>. In truth, this space represents a deliberate step toward overcoming fear by choosing participation over silence.<\/p>\n

You can read more about that decision in my earlier post on reluctant blogging.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here, I will be sharing work and reflections across several interconnected areas:<\/p>\n