My favorite room, currently, is our Discord community! If you are looking for other talented, passionate artists, I’ve found few places on the internet with a higher concentration of them! We’d be delighted to have you!
Thank you for writing this Wren - it's brave to admit we're all secretly in this race! Because we are. You are totally right in all you said, and un-learning the competitiveness is what I practice now. Just as hard.
And thanks for mentioning the privilege that goes into even an art education - living in South America always made me feel (literally) too far away from "the cool artists", the ones that get jobs and go to CalArts. That's one of the few reasons I stay in the competitive internet space, to find a little "being in the room" equivalent online. Anyway, great post! Difficult topic.
Ahhhh I’m so happy you liked it Haruh!!! This was soooo difficult to write and I nearly didn’t post it because I felt it might be too divisive - I’m so happy it resonated with you!
You know what some of this is very true, and another thing i’d like to add is that art shouldn’t be all what your brain thinking of, because then all what you gonna produce will have no life, somthing pretentious far from the trouth, so go out have some life learn about diffrente things then art, history science poletics, get yourself into troubles, test yourself as a humen being, and then get back to your art and tell us, what do think about life?
I loved the way you told the story of your return to your joyful, community centred drawing practice Wren.
Reading this made me realise that I’ve only tapped into some level of that competitive drawing energy much later in life.
For me, having grown up in an incredibly rural area of Australia I lacked all of the things kids in the city or with better art education in school or access to the internet knew inherently. Fine art school was the first real reality check I got of how small a fish I was skill wise but it wasn’t until my late 20s I really started the journey towards the art I wanted to make.
Overall what I connected with here is the way you described the journey for those of us who cannot stop drawing and striving to grow. That with more time and experience we start to find ourselves consciously and unconsciously creating the stimulating and nurturing communities we inadvertently missed out on in our feverish, single minded drive to stand out at all costs.
So thank you, you have given me lots of food for thought.
Ahh thank you so much for the incredibly kind reply Amy!! This is such an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before - what does striving look like for someone from a more rural area, where you more or less make art for yourself!
So so beautifully written, thanks for sharing 💛
"That with more time and experience we start to find ourselves consciously and unconsciously creating the stimulating and nurturing communities we inadvertently missed out on in our feverish, single minded drive to stand out at all costs" will stay with me for a while!!
I really felt the one part about how not having time to draw is "my own fault" because I have to spend so much time working so I CAN spend all my time drawing when I go school. It's really made me feel like I'm failing as an artist, but I guess that's not something you can really do. Love your insights
My favorite room, currently, is our Discord community! If you are looking for other talented, passionate artists, I’ve found few places on the internet with a higher concentration of them! We’d be delighted to have you!
https://discord.gg/jyGv3ZngMf
Thank you for writing this Wren - it's brave to admit we're all secretly in this race! Because we are. You are totally right in all you said, and un-learning the competitiveness is what I practice now. Just as hard.
And thanks for mentioning the privilege that goes into even an art education - living in South America always made me feel (literally) too far away from "the cool artists", the ones that get jobs and go to CalArts. That's one of the few reasons I stay in the competitive internet space, to find a little "being in the room" equivalent online. Anyway, great post! Difficult topic.
Ahhhh I’m so happy you liked it Haruh!!! This was soooo difficult to write and I nearly didn’t post it because I felt it might be too divisive - I’m so happy it resonated with you!
You know what some of this is very true, and another thing i’d like to add is that art shouldn’t be all what your brain thinking of, because then all what you gonna produce will have no life, somthing pretentious far from the trouth, so go out have some life learn about diffrente things then art, history science poletics, get yourself into troubles, test yourself as a humen being, and then get back to your art and tell us, what do think about life?
I loved the way you told the story of your return to your joyful, community centred drawing practice Wren.
Reading this made me realise that I’ve only tapped into some level of that competitive drawing energy much later in life.
For me, having grown up in an incredibly rural area of Australia I lacked all of the things kids in the city or with better art education in school or access to the internet knew inherently. Fine art school was the first real reality check I got of how small a fish I was skill wise but it wasn’t until my late 20s I really started the journey towards the art I wanted to make.
Overall what I connected with here is the way you described the journey for those of us who cannot stop drawing and striving to grow. That with more time and experience we start to find ourselves consciously and unconsciously creating the stimulating and nurturing communities we inadvertently missed out on in our feverish, single minded drive to stand out at all costs.
So thank you, you have given me lots of food for thought.
Ahh thank you so much for the incredibly kind reply Amy!! This is such an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before - what does striving look like for someone from a more rural area, where you more or less make art for yourself!
So so beautifully written, thanks for sharing 💛
"That with more time and experience we start to find ourselves consciously and unconsciously creating the stimulating and nurturing communities we inadvertently missed out on in our feverish, single minded drive to stand out at all costs" will stay with me for a while!!
Thank you for helping inspire these deeper thoughts on this for me. It’s a wonderful exchange!
Can’t wait to read your next post!
💛💛💛🫂
I really felt the one part about how not having time to draw is "my own fault" because I have to spend so much time working so I CAN spend all my time drawing when I go school. It's really made me feel like I'm failing as an artist, but I guess that's not something you can really do. Love your insights
Yes!!! Absolutely, that feeling is something so many of us have to deal with!!
So happy it resonated Em!!:)