“How long have you been an artist?” I get asked this often. My go-to answer is that I have been creative for as long as I can remember but, have only focused on my art for the last few years. This is absolutely true, and yet it feels like I'm leaving a lot. So, today I'm going to deep dive into my art journey. From my early “work” to where I am now and a few life events that shaped my art along the way.

A few days ago , I was digging through storage and I came across an old folder full of art from the early 2000's. In amongst bass tabs for Taking Back Sunday (Yep, I wanted to be a Bada** Bass Babe), pencil doodles cover sheets and sheets of white printer paper. I was a bit of an "emo kid" but not because I had much to complain about. I just really enjoyed poignant lyrics and desperately wanted to be morose. Obviously, looking at these early "artworks" makes me chuckle now. I have memories of drawing and painting at my grandma's when I was younger, but these doodles are the first proof I personally have of my interest in art.

As I got older, the drawing continued but I began adding paint into the mix. This was around the time I began posting my art on DeviantArt (is that still a thing?) and Myspace. I was into inked lines combined with watercolor and mixed-media collage. I wrote song lyrics on almost everything and rarely put a date on it. I never sold this work. I was a teen. This was purely for my self expression. My ritual was to put on the loudest music, light a candle, and just go with it. During my teens and early 20’s, I would go through phases where I created a lot, and some where I didn’t at all. Through various jobs, moving out on my own, and simply growing up, I can now see how I used art as a way to ease anxiety and feel like MYSELF. That has not changed.

Jump forward to 2014. I was 25 and decided to go to community college and do something with my life. I enrolled in Drawing 101 as an elective and found it so incredibly boring. The classes were long and focused on mostly still-life drawings. Looking back, I know that the reason I disliked this class so much was that there was no color! I tried my best to have fun but it was definitely a struggle. The last project was a self-portrait where we had to sit next to a mirror for 2 hours and draw ourselves...in pencil...for 2 HOURS. It was awful. I got the initial proportions wrong and gave up after 30 minutes. I walked away from that class thinking I wasn’t much of an artist and never wanted to draw portraits again.

I did not follow through on my college education. Life happens and plans change and sometimes you move to a different state to marry the guy you love.
My then-boyfriend-now-husband Rolland, had lost his dad. Rolland and I had been dating long enough to know we wanted to stay together so we got engaged and moved to his hometown to be near his family. Later that same year, I lost my 21 year old brother. It just so happened that this was 2 weeks before the wedding we had been planning. It felt like life was repeatedly bashing us over the head and much of this time is a blur, but I can say from personal experience that having a wedding, being newlyweds, and pushing through fresh grief was a lot of change and extremely difficult for us both. I wasn’t sleeping well and began watercolor painting to pass the time from sunset to sunrise. I painted beaches, waves, and sunsets. Serene. Calm. I watched endless YouTube tutorials and scrolled the internet looking for images to paint. This painting time really helped me through the initial few months of grief, but it wasn’t sustainable… I had to get a job. I had to sleep. I soon threw myself into a new job in electrical manufacturing. I was working 50+ hours a week with a 45 minute commute each way but continued to paint nights and weekends.

Two years went by in a flash. I was burnt out on the job and I was ready to find something closer to home with less time commitment. In the meantime, I began painting more and more. My mom, who runs a shop and art market in a beach town in Mexico, began selling my art for me. She arranged a commission job for me to paint artwork for a local beach house and helped make prints and cards. This by no means was a booming business for me, but it did open my mind to the idea of being a professional working artist. In 2017, we found out I was pregnant. After having our daughter, I began challenging myself to paint everyday during her naps and posting the paintings on social media. I was also discovering a community of artists that were making a living from their art and selling it online. As a stay-at-home mom with a painting addiction, this was exciting!

2018 was a pivotal year. I was painting almost every day and was participating in community painting challenges. People were showing interest in my work and I set up a little website in order to sell. I didn’t yet feel like my painting had a specific “style’ but I was starting to feel more confident in how and what I wanted to paint. Desert scenes and beachy things. By the end of the year I was selling enough art to pay for my website and start buying high quality materials. There is so much that goes into growing an online presence and business and a lot of growth happened that year. Thank goodness my lil’ baby slept so much. She sure doesn’t anymore.

When it came to painting, 2019 was a fun and amazing year. My personal art style was taking shape and I was learning which parts of the process brought me the most joy. A couple of established artist friends took me under their wing and shared my art with their audiences which led to more sales than I ever imagined. Early in the year I had made the decision to invest in an art business course and worked hard to merge marketing strategies with my studio practice. I began working in collections and promoting my art regularly all while improving my skills and exploring new mediums and techniques. This year was full of “Swoopy’ Skies, Tea-dyed deserts, acrylic abstracts, watercolor abstracts, and florals. Little paintings left the studio very quickly and I was blown away every time.

Looking back through these years of art, I can see how my style has evolved. There are themes and strings from my teen art that tie in to the work I’m making now. The way I feel when I create is the same I felt when I was 16. There are shapes and lines that my hands have always made that used to frustrate me and now I try to embrace. The truth is that art-making and art “style” is a constantly evolving thing. I am excited to see where my art style will go in coming years.

Phew! So, that was a lot and if you are still with me, thanks for reading this far! I plan on sharing a lot more about my process and the things I’ve learned along the way here on my blog. I also plan on putting some resources together specifically for fellow artists that are trying to find their style and voice. If you want to be amongst the first to know when these resources are available, sign up below for my Artist Friends list.

A peek inside the portfolio: how my art has evolved and how life has shaped it.