I’ve been hearing a lot about finding ways to bring creativity into your daily life lately, and I have to say that its really resonating with me. I have always found making art a daily practice to be a struggle. I have gone through periods where I would produce like mad, because I was in a class, and then as soon as the class was over, so was my drive and inspiration. Life just always seemed to take over. I found this cycle so incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. I bought into the myth that “real” artists are driven to create and that they are unable to “not create” and I let that convince me that I probably wasn’t meant to be a “real” artist…whatever that is.
Read MoreWelcome to my shiny new blog!
What’s more intimidating than a blank canvas? A blank screen - at least to me! I have no idea what one really does with a blog, anyway. But I hear that it can be a great tool for communicating with people who want to hear more about my art, so here we are.
My origin story is similar to a lot of people’s- I’ve always loved to draw, but have never been particularly great at it. I fell in love with art when I was in high school, but could never really see a way for it to support me. I remained mildly envious of those that could throw caution to the wind and pursue art in some sort of “make it, or bust” manner. I just never believed that I was talented enough to be one of those that would actually make it. I also believed that I just wasn’t “whatever” enough to deserve to make it. I didn’t die every day that I couldn’t do something artistic. I wasn’t “dedicated” enough to paint for free just for the sake of painting. I bought in to all of these myths around what makes a great artist and in the meantime I quietly went about living my life with art taking the backseat regularly- but notice, it was still traveling with me.
In my thirties I decided to go back to school for an art degree and I noticed something- when I was consistently drawing for school, my work would get a whole lot better. But as soon as the semester was over, I would stagnate again. It was drawing practically every day that really helped me to improve.
I no longer question whether I have the right to call myself an artist- I know now that I am one, and have been all along, and that many of the myths about artists that stood in my way were silly false beliefs around art. It comes down to this- if you want to be an artist, then be one. Find someone who’s work you like and learn how they did it. Then you do it too and then find the next one you like- until your work is closer and closer to what you envision in your mind. And may you never completely get there, as to me, the learning is the most fun!
“The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint.” Keith Haring
Drawing on the left circa 1986, and on the right 2013