To Be an Artist

The most common response I get from people about my website?  ”Sure you can do it.  But I never could. I could never be an artist.”

It’s just not true!  Every single person who has the desire to tap into their creative side can absolutely be an artist.  The hardest part of doing what I do is coming up with the ideas, and you don’t even have to do it — I’ll do that part for you.  Just give it a shot, give yourself a shot, and try one of these projects.  Need some incentive?  Here are some of the real life lessons that I have learned while being an artist:

1. When I am doing a project I make sure that I carve out time to do it right.  That means I make time in my schedule for me. There aren’t a whole lot of things that convince me to put what I want first.  And I am the only one who gets in my way…once I allow myself some creative time I always feel refreshed.
2. Tapping into your creative side forces your brain to work in a new, fresh way.  This is never bad!  Always challenge yourself to learn new things and it will be nearly impossible to feel bored with your life.  My life used to be filled with external excitement: trips to Vegas five times a year, jet-setting and doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to do it.  But I never did anything that made me feel fulfilled.  When we settled down and had Addison, our life became externally slow, but I let myself BE an artist, I realized that my life is far more exciting now – without the constant trips to Vegas – because I am always finding new ways to use my brain creatively.  Its exhilarating.  And once I got my mind in the “creative zone” I started finding inspiration everywhere.
3. It has taught me how to fail gracefully.  I know, its an odd thing to praise as a huge positive, but its true.  When you create things nothing is going to be perfect. Not one single thing.  It’s a downside to being an artist.  I challenge you to find an artist in any medium who is fully content with their work.  Not likely.  I’m proud of a lot of what I have done, but not one single painting or tshirt or blanket or hat has been perfect.  Over time this has taught me to be appreciative of the beauty in the things I create and let go of the imperfections.  I have created some full-blown failures (a painted lamp for my sister in law, a mixed media painting of Audrey Hepburn for same sister in law, various paintings I tried to sell on an old website, on and on) and some semi-failures (a three-stranded blue stone necklace for my mother in law that was perfectly my style but absolutely not hers, a painted teapot for my mom, a t-shirt for myself) that weren’t necessarily ugly like the full blown failures, but they weren’t quite right either.  Learn to appreciate the beauty in the imperfect.
4. Sense of accomplishment.  Whether you are fixing your toilet or completing an art project, doing something yourself is so satisfying.  When you make something for your home that you are going to see every single day…and you’re proud of it…there is little that compares to that pride in knowing you don’t need to hire someone else to finish a job.  Figuring out how to solve a problem and then doing it is one of my favorite things about being a redesign artist.  I love it.
5. One of the greatest benefits of being an artist?  You have the license to be weird!  You want to dye your hair odd colors or cover a wall with empty frames?  Do it!  The response will (almost) always be, “Well, she’s an artist.” Even if people don’t quite understand why you make the decisions you do – in art, decorating or life – its okay because most people automatically put artists on a different scale of expectations.  And they should, because living creatively requires a whole different state of mind and set of rules.  Revel in it, its a wonderful way to live.

So take the plunge, do an art project.  There are so many benefits beyond the obvious.  Find that artist hiding in there and let it out!  I’ll help you figure out what to do once you accept the fact that you can be artistic, but you have to give yourself a chance first.  Consider it a Christmas gift!