Revisiting why I am an artist

I’m taking the Creative Breadcrumb Challenge, with Nicholas Wilton from Art2Life, to see where and why my artwork has changed over the past years. What choices did I make to arrive where I am today.

One of the exercises is to determine what is the one time, place or thing in my past that reminds me of how much I love making art. For me it was in art school, where I learned colors, techniques, art history, and mainly how to see the world as an artist would see it.  I loved seeing the color difference between a sunny day and bright strong colors compared to a foggy day with muted tones. I would see the negative space in the world and how it defines objects and time. I would wonder how artwork could become alive and a reality from a vision/thought I had.

I had just moved back to Washington, DC and participated in the first annual Chalk Festival organized by Edwin Fontanez.

The next part was seeing in what ways am I different than the person I was back then… and what do I still have in common with that version of me? I have less patience with myself now and want the work to develop/be done immediately.  Instant gratification from using digital media has changed this for me. I began to combine traditional and digital techniques to work faster towards a goal.  Since I did not have to create a new image from scratch, changing color schemes and corrections became a lot easier. I do not tolerate my mistakes like I once did. Even with the digital techniques, I still get very frustrated.

Unfinished Atabey — white pencil on black paper.

Unfinished Atabey — modified using digital techniques

However, I still feel that wonder of creation from a vision. Even though I don’t complete a lot of work, I still have many ideas floating around in my head!  Hopefully this course will put me on the right track!