The Mentality Of Being An Artist

I have been asked many times to speak or write to college age people who want to pursue creative fields. Usually it is about 'becoming an artist' because that is what I am associated with in my career. What I have to say may not be what they are expecting to hear. I think my sage old wise woman advice really is for anyone, at any age, or stage, in this life. Certainly it comes from my own experience and is coming from the viewpoint of my life circumstances. That being said, it took years to be the person I am now. Most often people need to live through things for themselves to "get it." Still I hope a few thoughtful breadcrumbs will be of help to someone out there. So I've added the page link above under my blog header called 'On Being An Artist' to express my thoughts on that subject. I actually wrote this piece in October 2009 for a Squidoo lens. It has been sitting there unpublished for various reasons. I decided to add it to my blog to celebrate my new dot com status!

Because I have been a creative person in my employment for my entire working life, I have been called "brave." Am I? What I believe about being a creative soul comes from the core of my being. I have always known I wanted to be an artist in some form since I was a child. Period. No doubts. 
In high school I was called "lucky," because I already knew exactly what I wanted to study. For me the answer is that "it" was already there before I incarnated. It is Spirit. 
It is being who I really am.

You see that digitally altered portrait up there of that little first grader...she was getting these artzy ideas in her head back then. In fact my parents for some strange reason had sent my tiny school photo to a company that hired artists in France to paint real portraits from photos. A very unusual thing for my parents to do. They then shoved the rolled up canvas in a drawer and there it sat for most of my life. Now that was more like my parents. I think their Spirit prompted them to put this painting in my reach, even if in a drawer all bent and cracked. I would as a child pull out the painting and be in amazement at the artist who could paint such reality. 
I studied this painting, and I thought it was made by the greatest artist in the world. Yet there was no signature. Around ten years ago I got that painting and put it in a frame to hang near the oil painting I painted of my own young daughter. I thought it was time to give that unknown artist and the child in the painting some respect.

Has this choice to be a full time artist been easy. Heck no. The other people in my life and family made me pay for my choice over and over. Did you hear that? It was other people. Not the choice. Not the art. Whether I was working as a 9-5 corporate art director, or running my own mural business, it was numerous people in my life and their "good opinion" of what "they" thought I should be doing instead of art that caused any problem. There were a few times when 
"I allowed" their thoughts into my life...their doubts... about who I really was and what I was doing. Once I took a temp agency job during a slow period to please someone else. They claimed since I did not make a certain income, I was a bad mother. 

I always felt you can learn from anything, even if it's a fork in your road. This period taught me basic computer skills which led to my working in the television industry. 
I continued doing some faux-finish jobs on the side. I was back being an art director of sorts working on nationally known Television programs in marketing and promotions. 
I also made some wonderful life-long friends while in those positions. In a few years I did return to my own mural and faux business full time, and you guessed it...living on my own again with my children. Huge lesson: It's so much better just to say "no" to some people and their "good opinion." Happiness and kindness matter.

So my take is not the usual how to become an artist...it is how to remove the obstacles to being an artist. This comes from someone who fought the good fight of many other peoples opinions about my "job" for thirty years. It always felt better when I was true to myself. You are born with "IT." But do you believe "it"?  As a single mom raising two children with all that brings, I was able to do it, with hard work, however difficult financially at times. Only when living with people who did not know who I really was, came the problems for me. When I stayed focused on 'my vision' new doors always opened, and the next job was always there!

For anyone who wants to become an artist, or work in any creative field of endeavor check out my in depth article on the tab page above called "On Being An Artist." I have included images created from my own artwork and photography to illustrate this article.