When I started this blog, my intention was to chronicle my experience in building an art career. I imagined that would mean talking about exhibits, shows, sales and new work. I predicted that my beginnings would be humble, but that slowly and steadily I would forge some resemblance of an art career. I gave myself a year to accomplish this. A few months in, I started to feel stuck. I hadn't made any real progress. I was still broke and unable to get proper supplies. Things just didn't seem to be happening for me. I started to question whether I had chosen the right vocation. Maybe I wasn't really an artist. I didn't have anything profound to say, my work wasn't cohesive. Yet, I could not put my brush down, so to speak. I just needed to create more and let things flow. Just make what I wanted to make without concern for whether or not it looked good. Just create and then refine. Refine, refine, refine. I'm now starting to develop a solid body of work that says who I am as an artist. Who I thought I was as an artist, is not who I've turned out to be. And I'm still growing. So, I guess this is growth.
Developing as an artist, an artisrtic person is a strange journey indeed. But you've answered your own questions and queries in your brief but very insightful entry. Your work grows and deepns as you grow and explore what it is to be the artist that is you. I wish all the best and enjoy the journey of exploration and development :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gwei,
ReplyDeleteI've missed your beautiful comments. I feel in many ways this my growing up in art is my growing up in life too. I'm learning to be more patient and to push harder instead of giving in to my own insecurities. What each of us brings to the world is valuable in its own right.
Good for you for sticking to it. I was (am) an artists stuck in a graphic designer's brain. After 20+ years, I finally let myself be creative without being frustrated, and found out I loved to sew. Who knew? We find creativity in all kinds of ways and when it rains it pours! PS saw your twitter link on Etsypreneur and ended up at your blog!
ReplyDelete