Thoughts about art

Art is an expression of the soul - there's really no telling what's going to emerge.

One day it may be happy and free, others it may be dark and brooding. It flows out and onto the canvas and finds a way to be what it needs to be… and sometimes that isn’t always what was in mind at the start of the project.

So many times I’ve sat down to paint and had an idea in mind, I’ve put pencil to paper, brush to canvas, air to paint, only to find the end result wasn’t what I thought it would be, but was something more that I didn’t even know needed to be there. Sometimes I love that it changed from the caterpillar in my mind to the butterfly before me, but other times, I just really wanted to paint the caterpillar, and that can be frustrating.

Growing up I would draw here and there, and would surprise myself when I would win cover art challenges, thinking maybe nobody else submitted anything; I got lucky. I wasn't the artistic one of the family, that role belonged to my mom and brothers, so I shouldn't try.

But I did.

I started back dabbling with the arts years ago with drawings, funny enough, envisioning floor plans and what the house would look like (no, I'm not an architect, they're terrible). Then onto a variety of different sketches, one of which is my butterfly that I currently use for my art icon. I added some color with oil pastels, which always scared me because I didn't want to ruin the beautiful drawing by picking the wrong color or not being able to erase, but ultimately, painting was always the dream, so far out of reach, something I wouldn't be able to do successfully.

It seems silly to say now, but it terrified me.

Painting, for me, was always something I wanted to try, but didn’t know where to start… um, pick up a brush and just go for it?… but it never seemed that simple. I needed to map out a design, figure out the colors and placement, the scale needed to be right; and sometimes I still struggle with these things, as the perfectionist in me wants it to be, well, perfect, but the artist in me wants it to be imperfect and just show me what it wants to be.

Just start.

Paint a line, add another color, don’t like that – try again.

I’ve repainted canvases that I absolutely hated the original image. I’ve absolutely hated a painting one day, and loved it the next. Some days I’ll see a painting and think, mediocre at best, and then I’ll look on another day and see the tiny details and remember what it was trying to tell me before.

The same goes for outsiders looking in. You may see one of my pieces and fall unequivocally in love with every aspect of it – it speaks to you on multiple levels and you have to have it. You could also see one and think, ‘How on earth does she sell anything at all? That’s terrible and I can’t even look at it.’ Clearly that one isn’t for you and you should move past that particular picture. There are others. I love a variety of styles and techniques. There may be something for you, and then again, there may not – and that’s ok.

If you like my style but don’t see something you like, I definitely take suggestions, requests/commissions, most of which should probably be more specific than my whims of, ‘I want to see a painting done in just three colors’ or ‘what would a picture painted within another picture look like’. Send me a message. I’m always up for a new challenge, and I’d love to hear from you and discuss your vision and budget.

Whether you’re here to just browse, commission a piece, order a reproduction of an image, or actually purchase the original, I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you. I read every message and email and try to respond to everyone in a timely manner.

I hope you found many things you liked, nothing you hated, and one thing to dream of owning.

Create something beautiful today,

-Ang