IT'S LIKE A CHILDHOOD STORY - TERRI WELLS

March of 2020 was a pivotal time for many. For self-described working artist Terri Wells, the sudden quarantine forced her to stay holed up at home with her daughter and their cat.
“All we were doing, like everyone else, was making food, eating food, staying at home,” Wells explained. “And I had paint and canvas that I just moved around with me my entire life. I’ve always had it around but I never committed to doing it all the time, it didn’t draw me to do it. But then during the pandemic, just one day I started drawing and it was from that moment on, I’ve painted every day since then.”
In many ways, the forced quarantine was a blessing in disguise for Wells.
“It’s the most joyful thing I’ve ever done and I have done some really fun things in my life,” she says. “I just can’t imagine my life without it now!”
Painting has brought some clarity into her life.
“Who would have known I would be 52 and finally know what I want to do, you know?" she said. "I just gave up knowing what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve bounced around for always and then it was just this epiphany, like ‘Whoa, I want to be a painter, that’s who I want to be! I think that’s who I am!.’ And it just took all my life up to this point to know it, to figure it out, and I’m really glad that I did!”
Wells spent much of her adult life working in sales and marketing, and while she was very good at her job and it provided a good living for her family, it was a whole different life experience.
I’ve always gone with my gut instincts. I was in sales for so many years and that’s flying by the seat of your pants all the time and I got really used to that and good at it and practiced, but this is different. I’ll start painting and I’ll start thinking about, how would somebody else look at this? And I have to say, ‘wait a minute, that’s not the goal, that shouldn’t be the goal.' So really, what I’ve had to train myself to do is step back and take away this part of, I have to make a living at this. I’ve always felt like everything I’ve done, everything I’ve put my time and energy into, I’ve got to make money at it and maybe it’s just the way we're raised in this country, I’m sure it is. But with painting I’ve learned that that’s not the end goal. There doesn’t have to be an end goal. The end goal is for me to create something that’s never been before and that’s all, you know? It’s as simple as that.
As much as she realizes that making money isn’t the focus of her life anymore, Wells said she understands that it’s still a part of the lifestyle as a working artist.
“I want to sell enough,” she admits. “I’d love to sell like a zillion pieces of art because I love it and I think art should be accessible and shared and enjoyed but I really do it for selfish reasons so I can buy more paint and buy more canvas. I’m just trying to supply myself, my obsession.”
To help pay the bills and feed her family, Wells works and displays her art at Marquee, an artists’ marketplace located in the Foundry Street area of the River Arts District.
Being here is phenomenal! The artists in here, there’s so many different kinds of art and it changes all the time. I mean we’ve got over 300 vendors, its 50,000 square feet. It’s been really inspiring (working here), and if I have to be stuck anywhere, 'cause I’m not good at being stuck anywhere, which is one of the reasons I started painting at home during the pandemic 'cause I was stuck, and I needed an outlet, something to feel free. This is definitely the place to work because I get to meet and get to know all these artists. They are wacky, fun people! I’ve always loved the artistic type of person, yeah, it’s who I jive with way better usually.
Wells said she knows that she has come into her own during the last few years. Painting has brought her life meaning and joy, the likes of which will stay with her for the foreseeable future.
“That’s the most fun, to have a hobby where you continue to learn things and surprise yourself and, like, the mad scientist thing," she said. "It’s really, really fun so I hope in 10 years I’m still playing mad scientist, you know? I don’t know what’s going to happen with the results of my mad scientific discovery but I still want to be doing it, and I’m pretty sure I will. I think this is one of the things I’ll just keep on doing for forever.”

[@sumar207]

That rabbit painting IS very adorable and so is your attitude!

[@Maria-Maria00714]

You're pretty cool ❤