Great news! Plus, a discussion.

I have a client! It's very exciting. A lovely girl is wanting a portrait of herself and her boyfriend for their 2 year anniversary. It's an interesting journey for several reasons. Reason one is that I've finally buckled down and given very specific constraints for the commissioner. It's not an aggressive or negative attitude, it's the reality of trying to make money with artwork. I told her my pricing, which right now is 15 dollars an hour, and I told her that I must retain full artistic control over the concept, imaging, and style, as I see fit. Because otherwise I become "tied down" and creative blockages form as I'm trying to manipulate what others want. Of course if I feel drawn to get input from the client (which I have and will continue to do so) that is fine because it's within the spectrum of my intuitive flow of the art.

In the past I've tried to fit every desire of the commissioner to with fairly satisfying result to them..  but usually the art is lifeless in my eyes. Art to me is not just making "pretty pictures" I think perhaps when I was a bit younger this was a goal, but of course I'd not been as developed in my art several years ago. Getting hung up on making something just visually pleasing is easy for a young person to do. But that's not solely what I want my art to do now.

I want my art to touch, give joy, to make people think, and to bring growth in others. Even if I'm being commissioned. It's an interesting business attitude, because we live in a society where in business, "the customer is always right." and while that might work for many fields, and even more commercial branches of art..

I think that in my specific niche (which I'm still trying to find, and carve, by the way) my goal is not to simply provide the customer with something they want. It's to provide them with something they didn't know they wanted. And, in honesty, and bit of trepidation in this statement, if someone is asking for a piece of artwork they probably can't create one themselves. So of course they're, usually, not going to have the "eye" that the artist has worked hard to hone, and establish. Luckily people usually understand this when they ask me specifically for an artwork, much to my relief.

Oh, and let me explain why I felt nervous about the previous statement. I felt, and still do feel uneasy, because all of my life I've tried to keep the attitude that I am not "great" or even "good" at what I do. And while I'm definitely, most certainly not on any artistic level of greatness, I am not simply a doodler, or a scribbler. I have worked hard to learn how to draw and create. And everyday (if possible) I continue to learn and practice and teach myself so I can progress. So, my art does have worth that I'm afraid to assign to it. After reading the wonderful words of the artist Patricia Ariel, who you MUST check out atwww.patricia-ariel.com ! She's definitely a driving inspiration to me since I discovered her. And her words have resonated with me, she's given me a new confidence that I can be successful, I just have to be clever about it, and not sell myself short!

Anyway.. I've rambled enough, I'll be off my friends! I'll update soon on this and other projects! Hecate is still pretty much the same as she was when I last posted here. I for sure will be getting my watercolors this Thursday, but I'm not going to look forward to it because it just saps energy IF they don't arrive!


Love, light, darkness, and blessings. <3

Just for fun, here's one of my first watercolors from a few years ago.  It is the goddess Morrigan. I thought it'd be interesting to post since, I'll be trying watercolors again.. :D