Finding Your Artistic Voice

Happy Sunday friends! So glad you came and joined me on the blog today! I hope you had a lovely week and weekend. It was my first week back to school with my high school art students. It was exhausting but wonderful to see my students again after being remote for almost 2 months! I love working with my students in person and am so grateful to be back.

Painting lots of blue Hydrangeas lately!

Your Artistic Voice

Today I am going to chat to you about being true to yourself and your own artistic voice and style. I have actually heard a couple of people chat about this lately and it really hit home to me. My whole life I have always loved art but I was never creating art that was considered “realistic.” It honestly never really interested me. I was always more passionate about colors, textures, patterns and designs. I remember in college struggling in some of my art classes where realistic drawing and painting was required. I could do it but it was not something that brought me joy or was fun for me. It was a struggle for sure. I almost quit art education because I felt that I was not “good” enough. I was so intent on pleasing my professors and doing what they wanted me to do.

However, my senior year in college I was in a figure painting class and I was just NOT loving it. Finally I just started adding the colors and patterns that I wanted into my paintings. I just did not care what anyone said, it was the only way I could get through the class. That is when things changed. My professor who before barely paid any attention to me (my work was soooo mediocre, there was just no passion in it before) began to take notice. He told me that I was like the Fauve artists. What? What was a Fauve artist?! I had never learned about that before. (Side note: Fauvism was an art movement that Henri Matisse was a part of. They used LOTS of bright colors like “wild beasts.”) All of a sudden as soon as I started painting for myself and not paint what I thought others wanted of me, things started to click. This was the beginning of finding my artistic voice.

After graduating from college I got a job teaching high school art (where I still am teaching today— starting my 17th year!). Teaching high school art was a challenge for sure. A lot of high school students love realism and want to make everything “look like the picture.” This was a challenge to my non- realistic artistic self. However, because it did not come naturally to me, I had to reteach myself realistic painting and drawing tips and techniques. This ended up actually helping me teach more effectively because I understood what it was like to struggle and not know how to do something well. I was able to teach in a way that made it easy for my students to understand. Working constantly in this realistic style eventually took a toll on my mental health once more. I was again doing something to please others and not myself artistically.

Painting Every day Changed Everything

Art was not fun for me anymore because I was creating art not for myself but for others. I was constantly working in a style that was not me. It felt wrong. Something had to change, I was dreading art and not enjoying the process. I remember praying about it in my journal and writing, ”Please God, help me with my art. I just don’t know what to do. I am so uninspired.” Soon after I got the idea to start the daily painting challenge. I started January 1st 2017 and began painting whatever I could think of each day during my lunch break at school. I finally was painting for myself. Since I was painting during my lunch break at school I had to paint quickly during those 20 minutes. This was actually a good thing because it did not give me time to be worried about realism, details, etc. The focus was capturing my subject quickly and to actually complete a painting each day. I began to focus on what I had always loved: colors, textures, lines, patterns and painting my favorite subject matter. Art became joyful again. This was the key to unlocking my own personal expressive style. I felt like there was finally a breakthrough in my art. I needed to paint what brought me joy and be true to my own personal interests and not worry about creating art for anyone but myself.

Be True To Your Interests

I feel like we go through everything for a reason and being a high school art teacher definitely helped me become a better artist because If I was not, I could not teach my students. I still struggle with realism (portraits are not my favorite still….I am practicing though!) However I have realized through all of this that being true to your own personal strengths and loves (mine is color, textures and patterns) will help you figure out your own unique artistic style. I am always telling my students, “You do not have to make it look exactly like the picture! Have fun, be creative, show me YOUR style!” While I know as an art educator it is important to teach students techniques I also think it is my role to teach students to enjoy the beautiful process that goes into creating and making art. If it is not joyful then maybe something needs to change. Make sure to be true to your own artistic interests. It personally has helped me discover my own unique artistic voice.