My artwork is being exhibited in a building in Downtown Tyler. Is this exciting? of course it is! although is convined with scary feelings too as well.
And why is this, well... Not too many people know I start painting as a fluke because I couldn't find the perfect painting for my walls about six years ago. We moved from Dallas to Tyler due to my husbands job and one day I woke up wondering if those bare walls in our new aparment would look better with something cheerful and go in accordance with our hodgepodge decor. I went to several places looking around for the perfect artwork but all I found was nothing like I wanted. And almost by impulse I ended up going to the artsupplies store and grabbed some canvases to do what I was envisioning in my head for my walls. The artist in my family are my Mother and my Uncle, but I never did consider myself one. So this is pretty much how I started this journey.
I think I'm lucky to have art skills which I learnend observing my Mother and my Uncle when they were at work, I remember standing nearby watching them moving their pincels, stroking the canvas, tranforming little by little a white surface into gorgeous colored landscapes or flowers. Seeing them at work was very relaxing.
I remember also that I used to draw in my notebooks during class more out of boredom than passion or because art was my calling as many claim when they did the same.
I'm a very private shy person, and I enjoy being alone but that was going too far back then because meeting new people was becoming a scary thing to do in this new city, so to not feel too isolated I start painting and drawing almost everyday.
One day someone suggested that I open up a blog to share what I was making, and so I did. At the begining it was embarassing to share my work, I was scared of cruel people out there but my will was stronger than my fear. I remeber that people started visiting it and leaving cheerful comments, so I felt more confidence in sharing more and even a little about me and my life style.
I even enrolled myself in long art class online to learn from the best in Illustration and mixed media, and I'm still learning from them. I didn't have a friend nearby but I started making friends around the globe! Silly, right?! Sharing and networking was the challenge because I was a very insecure person, And it changed me on the inside, to share what you like is good even if your audience is only two people.
And so one thing lead to another, I participated in an art exhibition in Dallas, and my job has been published in a few magazines. Someone saw a painting in a blog post and bought it, and that was how my first canvas flew to Paris, the land of the art masters...my very first sale. Since then many of my canvases have traveled miles to meet their new homes, some in the US and others over seas. I've even sold to a few privates collector here in Tyler.
That gave me the courage to knock a few doors locally without luck and according to the words of one of them, my arwork wasn't suitable for local art customers...but that's ok. I didn't give up and just continued doing as I was, and stayed true to what I had always done.
And that's how I ended here in this part of my art journey. The owner of this building saw my artwork and offered me the window space to showcase it since last year, since last year!! what was I thinking and why didn't I accept it right away... Probably beacuse of fear, the words of that person telling me "my artwok wasn't suitable for Tyler audience" were still bouncing in my head.
But the owner kept pushing me in a good direction along with others people, and I accepted the opportunity. Because it was that, a great opportunity.
When I see myself in a mirror, I see a woman with fears but as I said, my willingness to do things is bigger than these fears. So, I always wanted to share my artwork with Tylerites and I'm doing it!
So, if you are around the area, come and take a look, the artwork will be showcased here for a few weeks. I painted to please the eye and the soul and I'm happy to do so. If you are interested in purchasing one of my artworks, feel free to contact me, the picture below has the info.
All transactions are via Paypal.
When you seek beauty in all people and all things, you will not only find it, you will become it. If you have a dream, pursue it, you will not lose anything and maybe you could win everything.
