Things that I'm NOT good at:
Networking Keeping in touch with people Trying new things Being social in a large group, or sometimes even at all Can you relate to any of these?
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Let's be honest. My process is a little all over the place. Am I painting? Am I collaging? What's with all the scraps everywhere? What about the photography stuff? What are you doing with your life Amy!?!
It's fine. Here's what I know has been working for me so far. I was recently going through some of my images when I came across this photo. I’ve looked at this photo dozens of times but it wasn’t until recently that I remembered the storm that followed right after I took this shot.
When I first started painting I struggled a lot with letting go of my photography. It has been everything I’ve known for such a long time and it has been such a core part of my identity that I felt like a fraud for even attempting to try something different. I worried that if I started painting it meant that I was throwing away all that I knew about photography. All the experiences, all the knowledge I had gained, and the hours I had put into it-which looking back meant years of my life! Was I ready to throw that all away for something I barely knew anything about?
I’ve been thinking a lot about trusting time. What does that mean? For me it means being ok with we’re I am even when it’s not where I want to be.
In times past I’ve had moments where I really wanted something and I wanted that something now. But I had to wait. Often years later I would receive the thing I wanted so badly but in a different way then I expected. Recently I’ve had several people comment that they don’t know how I have the time to make art with two small children. From a different perspective it seems like somehow I have so much free time. Let me tell you friends, this is NOT the case!
I have to fight for time to create art everyday. Make those mistakes. Make them all the time. Make at least a few every day. Make mistakes part of your practice.
Why? About a month ago I decided it was time to let my toddler paint for the first time. I had previously bought a painting smock online and I found some washable watercolors so I prepped the kitchen table and we started painting.
When I was first starting my photography career I met a man who ran a small local magazine. He saw my work and asked if I would be interested in taking photos for an article he wanted to publish about a friend of his. Of course, I said yes, so he gave me instructions on what he was looking for and then connected me with Emily.
Recently I decided to re-read ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho. The copy that I have happens to be a 25th anniversary edition and has a forward written by the author about his experience writing and publishing his book years ago. I don’t think I read this the first time I read the book so when I read the forward, I was surprised by his story.
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Oh Hey! it's me, AmyThese are stories about my art, experiences I've had in my career, and some other fun stuff too. I will probably overshare, I can't help it when I'm writing. Get cozy, these are great rainy day reads! Archives
April 2022
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