Good topic! I’m here again after several years. I grew up in a family of artists (mom was an art major, dad drew) and I loved art too but chose to study art history. I guess, as an art historian, I grew up thinking I was “left brained” and shouldn’t bother making images (thank you betty edwards!). Lately I’ve been painting as an after work meditation. No judgement or aspirations. But if I like what I painted, it’s enough to transform a bad day into a good day.

Yes, I find art to be therapeutic, and while it can cause stress at times, it is extremely rewarding!

Yes, I think you are always learning, especially during the stressful times. I’m a minimalist, and having too many things stresses me out, so I do watercolor. That way I minimize the amount of supplies and clutter. Everything is on paper. If I don’t like a painting, I usually photograph it, then throw it away.

But now I want to delve into acrylics! How to keep it minimal? That is the challenge…

I have taken long breaks, the longest because of a catastrophic hand injury that took years and surgeries to overcome. During that time though, I still crocheted and knitted and did what I could with what I had.

I had major surgery on my hand and arm last year but was able to live vicariously through everyone here while I recovered.

I’m always painting or drawing in my mind though if that makes sense.

They say that the creative adult is the child who survived. They also say we are all artists until someone tells us to put down the pencil.

I drew when I was very small, but when I realized that I had no inborn talent (about age 7 or so), I chose not to draw for a long time. I desperately wanted to draw and to be an artist, so I started trying to teach myself. But I was so self-conscious and embarrassed about “wasting my time” on something I had no talent for and that would never make me a living (as opposed to my language skills, which were more prevalent), I would draw in secret and hide my art.

I drew all through my teens and through a lot of laughs and taunts from family friends, which really stung. My parents stood by me wonderfully, which kept me going. But a lot of their friends and a lot of my friends were very much “be real, you can’t make a living in art, ever” and told me to quit messing around.

I stopped drawing when I was about 20 due to health issues, and when I went back to it at 25 or so, there were certainly some raised eyebrows – “You’re doing THAT again? I thought you were gonna be a social worker?” But, I’m happy to say, some people, even the most critical, have begun to come around.

There are still the scoffers but those are more the types who would taunt anyone who works in the arts. It’s not about me, it’s about their misplaced resentment towards art work. When they taunt me, I honestly just think “wow, what a sad small world they live in, that there is no space for artists.” It still stings sometimes, yeah, but I know they really have no valid point. Who knows, they may be artists who were told to put the pencil down.

I’m still working on these issues, of course. I only got an art website about a year ago. It has taken 15 years for me to even use paper other than printer paper, because honestly, up until last year, I thought my art was not worth the cents it might cost for a sheet of drawing paper. I still don’t sometimes. (Imagine my struggle with watercolor! The paper costs!!) And starting to post my art processes on YouTube was like WTFFFF AM I DOING. But some people really, really enjoy it, so I’ve continued.

The world is a bigger place than we realize, or at least than I ever realized, and there is more room, more support, and more need for artists than I realized, either. I hope for a day when more people, if not everyone, can realize that too.

~Julian

Wow, I can relate to this topic. I’ve been a member of WC for a while now. Haven’t posted any art work and only one post but I do check in every so often. Today is one of those days. I like many of you, started drawing and exploring art as a child. I did a number of artistic paintings in junior and senior high school that were good enough to where I was dubbed the family artist. But, I never did any art work for sale. As others have said, the underlying sentiment that ‘one can not make a real living doing art so it’s not worth wasting your time’ was overtly and covertly expressed by my parents and some of my peers. After college I put all of my artistic endeavors on hold, playing guitar, oil and water color painting etc, and got a “real job” in the electronics industry. Don’t get me wrong, the pay was good along with the benefits. But, I had no real creative outlet. About ten years ago I was having some serious problems with depression. After a long time on medications, which I’m now off of, and attending support group meetings I’m just now getting back into creative activities. At one group meeting the doctor/co-ordinator asked me what I did for creative fun to which I replied that I used to play guitar and did some painting. When asked why I didn’t do it anymore my answer was that there wasn’t any money in it so why should I waste my time. I was then told that a creative outlet like painting or playing music was something that I, in particular, NEEDED to do. I started playing my guitar again and am now actually enjoying it as I’m now exploring music and styles that interest me. The painting side not so much yet. I’ve done some art work on glass and stemware for a few friends but not on canvas or other traditional mediums; maybe I’m still struggling with the subliminal message that painting on glassware isn’t really art but rather just “crafts” much like the jewelry/bead art that I do for my wife. It’s difficult but I’m

During a busy period when I thought it was art was too self-indulgent and didn’t do much painting, I had a recurring dream of a room I wasn’t using.

Now I realize painting can be a time of feeding my soul and talking to the Creator, esp. when painting while outside or while listening to the Bible or praise music. Sometimes the Creator calls me to paint and spend time with him.

Great question!

When I was young I thought of myself comfortably as an artist. I was always drawing and painting and I felt freedom and retreat from everything else when I was with my creativity.

So I went to art school. I wont’ go into it so deep but I gained a whole lot but there was something that changed and twisted in my mind too. Around the concept of being an artist and that place I used to go to for solace was now a notion that my creativity needed to support me, to provide health insurance, benefits, and a retirement. I felt inspired early on in my college life but as time went on and the ever oppressive ‘end’ date to my education and ‘career time’ loomed, I became more and more overwhelmed. Art wasn’t fun anymore.

With a decade of relationships, moving, and the birth of my daughter I found myself working in Insurance, telling interviewers that asked about my degree ‘oh, well, I quickly found out art was no career’ and I am providing a decent life for my family.. but something has been missing and it’s absence has been growing and growing inside of me… so…

In the past year I have converted my garage into a home studio where I go, little by little, to spend time again with my paints, pencils, inks, and ideas to try to find that joy I had as a child. This time I won’t be asking my creativity quite so forcefully to support me.