Art & Me

Does being an artist define who you are?  When I started on my art journey, I thought who I AM is supposed to be expressed on the canvas for all to see. Big, bold, beautiful strokes will automatically convey what I’m feeling.  Myself & my art should scream ‘Look at me’, ‘Here I am’ and this is what I want to say.  The only thing bold about me is that statement! Lol

So it got me thinking about how I defined myself in the past.  As women, we tend to wear a lot of hats at once. I’m a mom, I’m a gardener, I’m ‘chief cook & bottle washer’, I’m a photographer, I legally have ‘LMT BCTMB’ after my name ... Licensed Massage Therapist w/ Board Certification in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork’...  I worked hard for those initials; yet it’s just another tool in my skill set.

I remember standing in a muddy cornfield as my flock of sheep drove off to their new home, crying ‘I don’t know who I am without my sheep’! I felt lost because being a farmer/shepardess certainly defined who I was at that time. Yet the one thing about life is that things change, right?  Some at our own hand and some out of our control (cancer is funny that way).

Having worn many career hats, I’ve always said that I was ‘blessed’ to be able to do what I loved in life and make a living at it. I guess even titles & initials after your name do not define you but are more a part of the story of your life. A lovely chapter but not the end-all-be-all of who I am. 

Perhaps it’s that ‘sum of all our hats’ that gets expressed in our art….and that becomes our own unique ‘style’. So if I paint a massage loving, pink sheep with a paintbrush in one hoof and a camera in the other….you’ll know why! lol

From my heart to yours,