An Honest Confession about the Journey to Becoming an Artist

Published on September 10, 2013 by

The last year has been full of ups and downs and everything in between.

I started the Launch Your Creative Life blog and website to journey my own path from novice to full time artist.

It's not been pretty and I haven't made it.

The journey is just that- a journey.  It's been hard and good, painful and oh-so-rewarding.

This year has brought a lot of real looking-in-the-mirror moments.  From trying to be who I wanted to be and falling down a lot.  It's no fun to see stains when we look in the mirror but it is only in looking at reality- what really is and what needs help - and acknowledging it that things can begin to change.j

Did I mention how many times I've made mistakes?  I've thought about writing a post titled, "What Not to Do When Transitioning Careers" or "My Top 10 Mistakes I Hope You Never Do."

Among the biggest problems, my biggest problem really has been my mindset.

Thus some of the changes - especially the introduction of the world "artpreneur."  Deby Dearman, artist,photographer and musician gave me the idea when I was playing with some different taglines.  I didn't /don't want this website to be about me and I was working on re-focusing the direction.

the last song of summerBut I haven't even grown into the word "artpreneur" yet.  I'm wrestling with it, working it out, experimenting with it.

As I learn and grow, I'm so glad to have you with me.

The fact that anyone pays attention and follows along is pretty amazing and I'm very humbled.  We live in an era of really cool and slick stuff- This website isn't one of them.  What LYCL is: my attempt to chronicle my journey and give you the most encouragement in yours.  I love to see artists soar.  I love to see people come alive in their gifts and skills. I'd also like to spare you some of the financial and time wasters I've committed- they can cause a lot of heartache and slow down the process.

You may not know this but I write Motivation Mondays because I need the motivation.  I need to retrain my brain to think like an artpreneur and not like a want-to-be artist.  The mental shift is colossal.

Launch Your Creative Life continues because our current stories and circumstances do not dictate or define who we are or who we are becoming.

The problems of today (most likely) will be gone in the future.  However, the practices I'm doing today- well, these can be life changing and forever change the future.

Focusing on what is going on today can be a crutch that keeps us from moving forward into tomorrow.  Looking at today's problems can cause me to make short term decisions that cause more long term complications.

I say that only because I've done it again and again and again.

In many ways the past few years have been the most frustrating and heartache years of my life. My life doesn't look anything like it did 2 years ago- and most of the changes came from some pretty serious circumstances.

And I fight the temptation to give in to discouragement more of than I care to admit.

But our lives were not meant to be mediocre, average, settling for survival, complacent, boring, gray.  Our lives are supposed to be bold, courageous and beautiful.

My first attempt at putting on canvas the birds farewell song to summer.

My first attempt at putting on canvas the birds farewell song to summer.

We are meant to be lion chasers.

I believe that will all my heart.  Artists- whether you tell stories with visual art, with dance, writing or photography- are meant to live a life that leads others to greatness.

Artists see the world in a unique way.  And it's not meant to be kept to yourself.

Regardless of whether you are a working artist or working your dream while going to the day job, it is your job, even your responsibility, to commit to the work and gift you've been given.

Keep at it even until all the seeds you have faithfully planted and watered and cared for spring out into a rich harvest.

Now that I've said all that, I'm going to do my best to live as authentically as possible.  (I need to insert thanks to Whitney English here for her challenge to live authentically).  I don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not but I also want to keep reaching for the artpreneur I'm becoming without being strangled by yesterday's hang-ups and mistakes.

I want to stick with it.

If you have any questions or are struggling in your creativity right now, shoot me an email at [email protected]  At the last I'll be a sounding board to your frustration. I totally get it.

1 Comment

  1. Why Courage is Necessary to Build a Creative Business (and a Creative Life) | Shalom Mama

    […] can read more about how I pivoted in my journey and began to chew on authenticity here. How about […]

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1 Comment

  1. Why Courage is Necessary to Build a Creative Business (and a Creative Life) | Shalom Mama

    […] can read more about how I pivoted in my journey and began to chew on authenticity here. How about […]

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