Can everyone be an artist? It’s something I’ve often asked myself as I recently expanded my art portfolio to new mediums. I believe that although it takes hard work to be a skilled artist, everyone is capable of expressing themselves in some artistic form. How we unleash the artist within us is down to ourselves being willing and open.
I began my professional artistic career as a student of Diego Bottacin, a Glass Master at the Abate Zanetti School of Glass in Murano. At the time, I knew I had the creativity, the vision and certainly the passion. I even knew how to blow glass, but not necessarily to the level of skill that I really wanted. It wasn’t until I worked 6 hours a day under Diego that I finally got into a rhythm of instruction, working, critique that I really started to believe in myself and see my visions finally come to life.
Creativity is both a skill and a process. It’s something you can learn. And like any other skill, it’s something you can get better at through practice and repeated use. Remember too that you don’t necessarily need to be artistic to a professional level to get a real buzz from it, it can be something as simple as drawing your favorite view on holiday, experimenting with your iPhone camera to create some great photos of your family, writing a song that’s in your heart, arranging flowers or re-designing a room in your house that looks tired.
“Tuscan Hills” is one of my watercolor creations, inspired by my travels across Italy. This country touched me in so many different parts of my life and had such a centering influence on me, that I wanted to express it by painting the beautiful Italian landscape.
When it comes to art, it’s more about enjoying the process rather than what the finished piece might look like. Allow yourself to be immersed in whatever you are creating without fearing judgement and allowing your emotions and deep inner thoughts to guide your creativity.
I truly believe that a great artist is one who has a strong vision, who can help other people see and experience the world in new ways and who creates work that pushes people into experiencing something inspirational through their work.
Using art to celebrate who you are
My new “FAITH” series celebrates what I know to be true and is an expression of what my faith means to me. For the first time ever, I expanded my portfolio and experimented with kaleidoscope shapes, each initially made using the blind contour method of drawing in a continuous line with her eyes closed. The result was layers of intentional color that each represented what my faith means to me.
Practicing your artistic skills
Take every opportunity to practice your creative skills, even if you don’t feel your work is up to scratch. It’s not about aiming for perfection every time, it’s about self-expression – and trusting the fact that if you are totally open with how you express yourself with your art, trust that your audience will also feel that same emotion when they look at your work.
Take part in masterclasses and workshops. Get your friends together and have a ‘creative spa’ day trying new things. Honor the spark in you that loves to create and tune in to your inner child voice who loves creative play.
Book a Private Studio Visit at my art studio on Dragon Street to get inspired >>