 |
| "At Peace" Pastel 12 x 15 © Donna Theresa Fine Art Available @ donnatheresafineart.com |
About a year ago I started my online blog documenting my daily artistic journey. It was a way for me to stay accountable to a practice of daily painting and to see my growth. I did not take on this endeavor with the hopes of people even finding me on the world wide web let alone follow me. As time passed and I shared my images and musings of daily life as an artist and mother, woman, dancer, etc., I was pleasantly surprised to receive positive comments and words of appreciation for the art I was sharing. Sharing is what I wanted to do. Isn’t that what we teach our young children? The native peoples of this land measured success not by what they had but by how much they gave away…
So what is success? Is it sales of artwork or any creative expression ? Or is success giving away our joy and beautiful creations? Are we satisfied with our success? That is, how we define our success determines our satisfaction.
This past weekend I fulfilled one of my yearlong goals I set out when I began this journey of artistic expression. I was juried into our county wide annual Open Studios Tour. I opened my studio and my home to the public and I put my creations on display….And to my surprise I was successful and received many visitors who were buzzing about admiring my work and, yes, buying it! And, yes, that was satisfying. As artists, validation comes with the sales of your creations…for someone to want to display your work in their personal space is a great compliment. However, the satisfaction came with the time and energy I gave away to each and every patron who engaged with me and my work. In the studio, I demonstrated technique as I painted on a work in progress. People were amazed that one could created with sticks of bulky chalk. They wanted to do it too! I spread the good news of the medium of pastel as an accessible medium to create one’s own beauty … one’s own satisfaction.
The weekend of October 20th and 21st is encore weekend…All the artists in the county open their doors again to welcome art enthusiasts to their studios and homes. Again, I will be among them..and that brings me great satisfaction….and perhaps success! Follow along on my artistic journey. Please comment below and get updates when I post.
Cheers,
Donna Theresa
