It has been two years almost to the day when I started the path as a full time artist. So…. I wanted to make a blog post about what it is like to be an artist. To make a record of my process, so I have something to reflex upon and to compile my progress and failures. Also, as many artists seem to be I am dyslectic and really could use with a daily writing exercise (and well I am not the best writer). So may I add, sorry for and grammatical errors and so forth. I am hoping any tips, tricks, or how to information will make up for it.
I am hoping to do daily or almost daily posts (probably not really going to happen), including my morning sketch, works in progress, materials and all sorts of what ever tidbits that happen in my day. Hopefully showing a perspective of life as someone with an obsession of making.
A bit about me and mostly about my art background that is. I was born and raised in Denver, CO in the late 70’s. I had lots of per-university art exposure and maybe I will have a chance to post about that some day soon. I attended (then) Metropolitan State of Denver (now it is “University”) from 1997-1999. With the help of my drawing professor (a student of Richard Diebenkorn while he attended UCLA) I was excepted to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent the next two years there 1999-2001. 2001 was a though year for anyone trying to get a start to a career and I was no exception because of what happened that late summer. While at the start of my university art education Metropolitan State of Denver I worked at a heavy duty vehicle parts company part time and in 2001 because of the current job market I started working there again. I pretty much stayed with that company until 2016 ( I did jump around a bit and worked for a local photographer, Pamela Mougin who has since passed away. I also worked in large format printing, repaired Mac computers and customer support for a piece of building software.)
From 2001 to 2016 I was still making art, just not full time. I started showing in Denver in 1999 and showed very rarely until 2009 when became a showing artist and member at EDGE gallery in north Denver. At about that time I started showing quite a bit and entering call for entry shows (maybe I will post about how I currently fell about call for entry shows in the future) Also I started dealing with a few local Denver art consultants that sold some of my work and commissioned a few large projects. In 2013 one of these large commissions was for 6 large works that needed to be complete in a short amount of time. I was working full time 40+ hours a week and completing the commission on top of that was quite a task. After I finished that commission I put my art making on almost hold. I left EDGE gallery and was no longer taking commission or activity trying to sell work. This was a very bad idea, I am still after two years of full time art-ing trying to get back to 2013 sales, commissions and exhibitions.
As of April 2018 I became a member of Spark gallery and have a scheduled show February 14th – March 10th 2019. I am currently engrossed in making work for this upcoming show. I will be posting works in progress for this show.
I am also currently working towards a certification in botanical art and illustration at The School of Botanical Art and Illustration Denver. I have wanted to to this program for a very long time. Now I have the time to do this program. Thankfully they have a scholarship that I applied for and received that covers most of the programs costs. Continuing to learn new approaches and techniques, I feel is very important in making great work and pushing yourself into new places of work.