Sharing art life experiences

Remember to take any advice that you read online with a grain of salt. Also realise, your mileage may vary. Every person has an individual journey that has advantages and disadvantages, geared to their personal growth.

I like to pick selective things out of a long speech of advice, that I will adopt to my own routine for success. I take what intrigues me, and leave the rest behind.

So when I share my personal art journey experiences online, I hope it helps whoever may have read it. Usually the stats show a few eyeballs have glanced at it.

I was pretty surprised to see my latest post get half the attention it did. It seemed to resonate with some, people were commenting on their experiences. It was bookmarked 20 times.

I really want to elaborate how DONE I was with art back then. Like my son didn't know I could draw until he was 5 years old. I really didn't think I’d ever mention the art thing to my kids. I figured if they had a natural inclination to it, I would say I did it at one point. But I really didn't care either way if I never drew again at that point.

In the present time, where Art is my livelihood again like it was in my teen years- I get sad when I think about how much I avoided art. How much I almost missed out on. The amount of amazing experiences I’ve given my kids through my art, I’ve built them awesome Halloween costumes and birthday invites and painted art for their rooms….all of that almost didn't happen. I've paid for movies and roadtrips with them from commission money, I've been so blessed since I started drawing again.

I remember in the past when meeting other moms at my kids school, and I'd announce I was a retail worker and that was that. (Nothing wrong with retail, if anything hats off to you for putting up with the daily b.s you do. I hated my time in retail but sometimes the customers were great.)

Now, when I introduce myself, I am a freelance illustrator and I'm beaming with pride from the inside, because I LOVE what I do.

It's scary, that mental fight that artists have to deal with. We sacrifice so much time and energy for our craft. Every profession deals with this I'm certain.

All I can say is if you're struggling to create, keep resting. You're not ready yet. We have living to do and people to interact with, our lives are long and we have time to come back to it when it feels right. I feel strongly it'll come back for everyone, the excitement to create again. I mean if I could make it back somehow, and I'm so stubborn you have no idea, then anyone can make their way back to art when they're ready.

Key word is READY. Sometimes you have to really give up a thing before it comes back to you. I wasn't sad about not drawing when I wasn't drawing. I gave it up entirely. If you feel sad about not drawing, maybe see if you can talk about your feelings with a therapisr. I wish you well. I hope we all succeed in life.