Who am I as an artist?
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- Опубліковано 2 вер 2020
- Is the answer really this simple? I think so. In this video I share the way I figured out my answer to the question, 'Who am I as an artist?'
Asking myself, "Who am I?" put me on the right path of answering the question. Unveiling this information about yourself allows you to better connect with the art you create as well as those who will appreciate your work.
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All of the opinions I share in this video are based from my personal experience which may not be the same as yours. Please contribute to the conversation but let's all be respectful of one another. - Навчання та стиль
I realized I was an artist when my 6th-grade teacher was blown away by a watercolor I made of a ram's head. He had posted it on top of the classroom bulletin board as a marquee piece. I eventually took it home and showed my parents and they were not impressed. I brought it back to school and gave it to my teacher as a gift, he was in tears. I knew I was an artist then. I knew everything that I experienced and processed was who I was as an artist. Thank you, Mr. Colley.
What a lovely story this is; thank you for sharing!
When I was in about the 7th grade .. the teacher was giving us a time for artistic expression. Upon looking at my work .. I remember being told by her and classmates .. "You're an artist!" I have done many different things in life (hospital, welding, etc) .. but when I boil it all down .. I'm an "Artist" .. in the same way an MD is a medical doctor. I recommend all "Artists" .. put the word, "Artist" after your name .. because it gives you license to be many things .. and it's a "way-of-thinking" .. that will involve everything you do .. from Cooking, Gardening, Caring for others, etc) Like a magician (Magi or Wise One) you create things that did not exist before. Merwin Abbott, Artist
Well put!! Thank for sharing your thoughts here!
@@EllenBrennemanStudio I always enjoy the wisdom, insight, and experience you share! 👍
The painful external environment....career, relations...etc... actually made me introvert ....which eventually made me...start art...and use it as painkiller....that went on many years...now...career, relationships have different equation for me...but still art is meditative...and it's my world into which I could safely enter whenever I feel like...
Who am I as an artist? Someone who loves to create things. Usually very colorful things. Never reaching my ultimate skill-level goal but enjoying seeing my own progress toward creating more mature artwork. An introvert who is content to sit quietly, creating new colors from the paints I have and combining them in new ways to make more dramatic effects. Liking each painting I produce and happy to move onto the next creation. Thankful for a lifestyle that now allows me time and materials to just create paintings. I'm a lot of things and one of them is an artist.
Beautiful words, Elaine - thank you for sharing!
I would say that your art is the expression of your soul. The biggest question to ask yourself is "What brings me joy?" . And allow your soul to answer. But, you have to actually listen, and not let the false beliefs you have been programmed with to interfere with the messages coming through. We are all Love. That is who and what we are. So, our art is our expression of Love.
That is lovely, Priscilla - thank you for sharing!
I was a staff writer for a news agency, and I was fortunate enough to get posted to Italy to be the European/Vatican correspondent for several years. But though I'd been doing this kind of work for a long time, I was getting more and more dissatisfied. To address this I did something I'd wanted to do for many years and signed up to study (I could only afford part time classes, both financially and in terms of work time) at a private classical drawing and painting atelier that I was lucky to have open near where I lived. (I toyed with the idea of moving to Florence where there are a lot of this kind of school, but my employers weren't too thrilled with the idea.) But far from curing my dissatisfaction with my regular work the more classes I took, and the more I advanced in technical proficiency, the wider the gap between what I was doing for a living and what I wanted to do became. Finally it became obvious I was going to have to make a serious change when I was sent to cover a large political event in Rome that my employers thought was immensely important, but it was held on a Sunday on the same day as the last class in a portrait workshop I had been taking for several weekends and for which I'd paid a LOT of money. The class was difficult to get into - I had to be recommended - and had made a profound impact on my portrait painting skills and I was desperate to finish it. But I had to go and cover this stupid event and I was so furious about missing half my last class I was ready by the following Monday to really give thought to making a plan to get out of my job. I had loved Renaissance painting since I was a child - I was obsessed with it in childhood - and I realised that in Italy there is a small number of artists who are doing very well producing work in the style that I loved from the late Gothic to the early Renaissance (Trecento and Quattrocento), so I started taking advantage of being in Italy and studying the original paintings up close and starting to produce work in that vein. I took part time classes in egg tempera technique and learned everything I could. I moved to a cheaper town so I could reduce my expenses and just started. I think the biggest hurdle to overcome was internal. I had a good job - one that a lot of people would envy - I was well respected and had a large audience (which came in handy later). I figured I'd finally made it to functioning adulthood. I had a nice flat in a decent building in a beach town in Italy! I could afford to go to museums and take trips to Florence and Venice to see the art. I could afford to keep myself and take art classes. I mean, what more do people dream of? But the contrast between what I loved and what I did to afford all that really started looking like the difference between a grey Westmidland's factory town and Narnia. I was mostly scared that if I did art full time I would be betraying my own adulthood in a sense, and returning to something that I had loved as a child. I scolded myself for a long time for wanting something frivolous and childish and silly and told myself to grow up and just suck it up and do my work and stop complaining. But none of that worked. I finally walked away from the work I'd come to loathe and started this. It hasn't been easy, and I've only just started taking the business end of things seriously, but at least I've stopped berating myself for wanting what I wanted. "Who I am" as an artist, then, was already laid down for me by the time I was eight. I just had to accept it and stop trying to force myself into an artificial idea of what "adulthood" was that never did fit me.
This is such a profound story, and I greatly appreciate you sharing it with me. I'm also grateful to read that you listened to your muses and set forth on your true path - which, by the way, sounds to me as though it happened at exactly the time it was supposed to (you've already built an audience that takes months/years to achieve). Good for you!!
I think this and figuring out style are two really tough things for young artists!
I would agree!
Hi from the UK, Awesome question and you contemplated it beautifully Ellen. How often, who we are, becomes what we do, it's instantaneous, because the manifestation of our 'self' is shown and seen through the window of action. Elaine Foster (earlier on here) held the crucible by illuminating her inner self and how that influences the role she plays. (Shakespeare would approve)
We will and do play many roles in life but what we bring to it is unique to us and only us ; maybe like another, but with a light touch we make it ours and with our Art we must be brave and reveal ourselves to the world. It matters not the commercial quality of our labours but the exploration of ourselves and a connection with the consciousness throughout nature.
.....Pooh Bear said to Piglet... "what do want to be when you grow up ?"... Piglet replied... "Nice" - That's how complicated the important stuff is.
Every Artist here has a beautiful voice and a story to tell , it is a language we all understand without judgement .
Beautifully put, Peter - thank you for contributing to the conversation 😊
I never thought about this question before, and I probably should have. The hardest thing for me to find as an artist has been purpose. I could run with an idea for Christmas gifts, or whatever, but in general there always seemed to be too many choices for me to have a clear vision. This listing idea is helpful. One of the items on my list is humor, and in retrospect, my most successful artistic undertakings have involved that. Not that I've sold a lot, but they were the most satisfying. Now maybe I can look at my list and use it for some other ideas. 💛
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here, and I'm so glad you found this video useful!
This is great! I love video games and like making paintings of video games but I always try to figure something else of me as an artist and couldn’t think of any other thing that would get my interest. But after seeing this I thought about that I like pattern, scenery and shapes which could lead me to ideas!
I'm so glad, Julian! 😊
Great subject and love how you explain all this. Your videos always have a ton of info and help for artists. Have a great day ! 💗🌺
Thanks so much for watching and contributing with your thoughts!
@@EllenBrennemanStudio you're welcome !
I enjoyed the video and reading all the comments below. Thank you all..
Thanks for the advice. I am struggling with that same issue.
Hi Ellen and Gena.... good question, and I'm wondering if, once you find that answer whether that sends you on finding your style as well or are they totally different? Gena, do you feel like you have an art style already and just don't know which direction to go in or are you looking for both? The first may bring you to the latter or vice-versus. Either way, keep watching Ellen's videos, she must be inspiring artists everywhere.
thank you for adding your two cents here, John; all very good questions to ask ourselves!
I love this! Really great insight into how to discover who are are as an artist. For me, I learned by making more art consistently over time and through that found out what I enjoyed and what I am drawn to. I def love nature and it comes through in my art. I would rather sit down and draw flowers any day over a person lol So my art has a lot of flowers, trees, and vibrant colors and lots of blues and greens. I wasn’t necessarily trying to make a certain kind of art, it was more of okay if I’m gonna spend hours and hours on something, I should pick a subject I enjoy looking at.
love this!
Excellent advice!!
Thank you for watching, Francine! :)
A great video with supporting tips! 💖
Hugs to you, my talented friend! xoxo
Akiane Kramarik is one name that comes to the mind while thinking about this question. She just knew.
Personally, my two passions in life have always been art and animals, so becoming an artist that specializes in animal portraiture was an obvious choice. 😊
I'm a bunch of artists.
I'm Derrick from Uganda, how can I sell my art ( I'm in Africa)
Hi, try online if you can. There are so many possibilities if you reach out to people in the whole world :)
I have costumers in my own country, but when I lack that, I would go online, Facebook, Etsy, amazon and so on, to find a channel for my work.
And why do I want to be a painterly artist rather than realistic or abstract or...
I actually made a video on finding your art style which may help anyone looking for theirs: ua-cam.com/video/uDv0YdS84Pk/v-deo.html