Hi, I’m new here…
…and I’ve been neglecting my writing side for too long.
For the past 10+ years I’ve identified and presented myself as an artist. And yes, that’s indeed what I am. Still, there’s another side to me that I feel hasn’t been given enough credit or attention. A side that observes and captures my experiences with words. A side that has been bottled up and agitated to the point of exploding — so we might as well put the Mento in and get this party started.
The reason I feel unbalanced is because I’ve been sharing only images for a long time. Of course, images are primarily what a visual artist should produce, but I always feel that the images tell one-tenth of the full story. For me, each art piece is filled with so many stories of overthinking, feeling like an imposter, questioning my talent, and making tough decisions. They mirror many of the same challenges I experience in daily life, and I always come out of the process having learned or gained something new.
The creative journey has a lifetime of lessons in it. And I feel stifled because I haven’t been documenting and sharing them.
Maybe it’s the platforms I’ve been using: ones that put only the most beautiful and polished images on a pedestal. But what about the all the messiness that it takes to get to those images? Isn’t that the common thing we all artists go through? Where is the place to put those images and tell those stories? Those stories show that even the most talented among us doubt ourselves, and I think a lot more people deserve to hear about those raw, unpolished experiences.
I believe the internal struggles artists face are the most beautiful parts of the creative process. Through those challenges you learn how to discover, accept, reset and persevere. As you push, you discover new things about yourself and your craft. Then, when you get to the finish line, you return slightly reborn: wiser, a shade more confident, and hungry to test yourself once again. (When you think about it, the creative process is not unlike Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.”)
So how do I properly investigate and pay homage to this wonderfully painful, messy part of the artistic process? Maybe it’s time to rely on my words more than images. Maybe it’s time to share those words more directly so others might be comforted or even helped by the stories of a fellow artist going through the thick of it.
And yup, this is scary for me. I’ve always worried I don’t have much to say, or that my experiences are exclusive to me. But I’ve learned that’s another thing we gentle, empathic creatives tend to go through. We get overwhelmed by the amount of content out there and think enough’s been said. “What more do I have to add to the conversation?” we wonder.
Those thoughts still run through my mind as I write this. But I also feel the sweet release of getting down the words swirling in my brain. Even if no one reads this, I do feel the therapeutic results of writing it all down. This is part of becoming a better, stronger, more confident human and artist. And if that’s all it does, awesome. But I won’t know until I hit that “Publish” button. So here goes…
