Hello and welcome to my first blog post. I’ve decided to start a blog to aid in my artistic journey in learning, loving and living art. All the self-help books tell you to journal as a way to clear your mind, improve focus, track overall development, plus a myriad of other benefits. This blog is my attempt to no longer side step this valuable tool and embrace my passion instead of fear it
We creative types all have our own process. But I think Georgia O’Keeffe captured the inner soul of so many when she revealed:
“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.”
― Georgia O’Keeffe
For me, this quote captures my process. I take her words to heart and try to practice her defiance of fear every single day.
Georgia O’Keeffe does not only inspire me, I feel a special kinship with her. It’s not because she and I share the same birthday. Although, there is something pretty cool about that. It’s because I too am scared and there is so much I want to accomplish, I can’t let the fear stop me.
Recently, I started a journey to satisfy my artist soul. It was a journey I gave myself permission to take after being told most of my childhood I was only marginally talented. Perhaps, they said, it would be best to put my energy towards something I was thought to be better at. Math teacher comes to mind. But, I’m sorry, math teacher just didn’t do it for me. So, I followed a semi artist’s path and launched a career as a professional photographer.
Photography you say is an art form… and I agree… sometimes. For me it was kind of cheating.
I needed to use my hands. I needed to create something no one else could. What I was seeing with my heart was just not what my lens was showing me. And that was scary! How was I supposed to get to my heart’s vision? I have no talent, I can’t draw, and I don’t know how to hold a paintbrush. The fear was crippling, but the desire did not go away.
This was the next generation from the photo. This is a photo encaustic piece. I get to use photography and my hands to create something completely my own
Becoming fearless takes so much energy. It requires soul searching and going places that you might not want to go. You have to figure out where the fear comes from. We all face common fears, like the fear of wasting time, the fear of making mistakes, the fear of wasting money, and ultimately for me, the fear of finding I have no talent. What if they were right? But, eventually I adopted the most important attitude to push through it all. WHO CARES! I waste time everyday. I waste money everyday. I constantly make mistakes. That’s life! Mistakes are important. How else do you learn? So, as I created my photo encaustics, I tried to push myself to the next level. The next level for me is less photo, more encaustics! Do I falter? Yes! Do I procrastinate? Well, the laundry needs to be done.
practice, practice, practice… even if it hurts, even if it sucks and believe me this took a lot of emotional energy.
I created these in front of people…very scary, but very helpful. Constructive criticism is not an assault on your character but a tool to help you improve. Wonderful lesson to learn.
My lesson from this is face the fear. It is, after all, an unrealistic fear. What is going to happen? The answer of course, is improving my skills as an artist
The final product. Is there room for improvement? Always! However, I pushed through and accomplished my goal and produced this piece.
“FEARLESS” is 24×30 hand painted encaustic.
So, I say become FEARLESS!
Join me on my journey!
Ask yourself…What are my fears?