"I AM AN ARTIST, THE UPS AND DOWNS OF IT ALL ~ Written by Kim Klassen
About 13 years ago, I decided to call myself an ARTIST.
And I took great offence when people asked me if I still did crafts. It really bugged me. :)
Slowly people caught on. And when they would ask me what I did, I would say matter of factly,“I am an artist”. At first it felt kind of weird, but now it feels just right.
If we create, and we all should, I think we truly need to claim it, no matter what our art may be!! Perhaps it’s cooking or baking, writing, sewing, or photography. If it’s your passion, it is ART.
Art is pure and wonderful and full of light and darkness and depth.
Since i claimed the title of ARTIST, there have been ups, downs, and plenty of in betweens.
But one thing i know for sure... when i claimed it, life took on a whole new meaning.
It allowed me to declare:
I would get my art published in magazines
I would have a licensing rep and print publisher
I would develop a line of primitive art
I would have my work on giftware and in people’s homes
it allowed my dreams to come true, over and over
And it lead me to this moment, sharing this with you...
Claiming that title was the best gift i could have given myself. It opened up a rather small world into something big and amazing. It allowed me to be more than just a mother and wife. It gave me an identity of my own.
Your dreams do not have to be my dreams. Perhaps your dream would be to paint a mural, take a class, buy a camera, learn to stitch or sew, start writing, or create a blog.
Claiming my artist has lead me on an amazing journey. Has it been perfect? Heck no! That’s where the ups and the downs come in.
We have been way up there, not a care in the world, and we have been way down low. We were sailing along, thinking we had made it...no looking back. All our struggles were over (at least financially). But it kinda all crashed. I’m grateful for the crash. It may be the best thing that has ever happened to me. It lead me to this moment, sharing with you. It lead me to my camera and photography and flickr. It lead me to put my faith back in God....To trust and believe that with Him all things would be okay. You see, if things kept going so perfectly i would not be here. I would still be in my ‘perfect world’. I probably would not have fallen in love with my camera. I would not have started my blog, or the 2bbb blog with my kindred spirit PG, or joined Flickr (my happy place).
As an artist, I have to create. It’s not an option. So between balancing the artist in me, with the reality of life... it can be a challenge.
Oh, the reality of it all. Teenage sons, dirty dishes, laundry, messy house, bills to pay, interruption upon interruption, meals to make, books to keep, stacks of paper, knocks on the door, phone calls, family needs... i could go on. ‘sigh’
There are no dreamy actions that you can order that will turn your life right side up. There are no magic photoshop tools to fix it all. Hey, perhaps that is why i am madly in love with photoshop? Hmmmm... It’s a little like magic. It reminds me of the old sitcom "Bewitched". Gosh I loved when Sam would just wiggle her nose and everything would be just right. ‘sigh’
But if life were that easy, would I be so reflective? If things had continued so smoothly would i be so grateful? No, I don’t think so. But as I move forward and upward, I vow to stay on the ground, if that makes sense. To be smart in the things I must be smart about. To dream the things i must dream about.
Being an artist has taught me to believe...with every morsel of myself... that anything is POSSIBLE. Anything.
And to believe that there is an artist in all of us.
Have you found your artist? Have you claimed the role? Are you scared to claim it? What steps have you taken to claim the title? How has it changed you? What is the hardest part about it, what is the best part about it? I’d love to hear.
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