Check out Carmen Herrera. She has an interesting last twenty years of her life. I also enjoyed a lot a book called Non Conformers. A new history of self-taught artists. It was very inspiring. Thanks for sharing your experience with others.
Hi Alma! Thanks for sharing your thoughts today. I have many of the same thoughts, so this is validating. I, too, left my career 2 years ago. I was a therapist. And similarly to what you did, we are teachers of sorts. We teach others the skills they need for daily life (children) or need to return to their daily lives (adults). I have worked with many people who had to re-learn skills. You are correct. Learning never ends. I have always crafted things and loved working with my hands. I have been working with stained glass as a hobby for close to 40 years, but only 2 years ago began using paper and paints (aside from the kid art I used in the clinic). I became surprisingly addicted to it! At first I channeled my inner 4th grader. I remembered some of the things I did as a kid, and some of the things I used with the kids at the clinic. And I was lucky enough to fall in with the right art group online. These supportive groups provided the safe space for my practice to grow. I am doing this all for myself. I feel like I spent decades in the service of others, teaching skills and helping regain skills. Now it is my turn to focus on myself. Everything is starting to flow together. I may not make a living at this, but maybe I can have a little table of HandMade journals with hand dyed papers at the farmers market some day! My retired therapist friends and I have begun getting together once a week for a Zoom Art hour doing art. We are all doing simple work and encouraging each other. It’s really fun and rewarding. We are all over 60 and just enjoying our time together and encouraging each other in our endeavors. And of course learning from each other. I have passed your newsletter along to them, and some are in Amy’s Mindful Art Community as well. I enjoy following your art and watching it grow and seeing you branch out into this newsletter (look forward to it). Thanks for letting me go along for the ride! Have a wonderful weekend! 💖Cheryl
PS: You were asking about women who began their art careers later. Louise Fletcher (Art Juice podcast) - Amy turned me on to Art Juice; and Andrea Garvey who was a graphic designer and quit a few years ago to pursue art. Andrea now teaches classes and will begin offering classes for how to build your art business. I am in her FB creative community. She has a live Studio Chat every Saturday morning 10:00 PT (she’s in Santa Cruz Calif.) Very positive and supportive group. She also has some of her art printed onto scarves.
Cheryl! Thank you, thank you for sharing your story with me. I am deeply honored. Just as what I wrote validates you, what you wrote validates me! How magical is that? My favorite part about what you wrote was "Now it is my turn to focus on myself!" Yesssss! You are a gift in my life. Thank you for the referrals of Andrea Garvey and Louise Fletcher. I listen to Art Juice, too and I love Louise best! I enjoy seeing your creations on IG too. Warmly, Alma
Yes, magical! I have always had a hard time justifying spending time on myself. I think I got it from my mom who was the same way. But my “words of the year” are Let It Go. Whether it’s a notion like that (in my head holding me back) or something I have made that needs to go to someone else, I am working on that on a daily basis. Part of that is letting go of the notion that self care is “primping”. So now I am working on accepting that I deserve this time and I deserve to thrive (not just survive). Have a beautiful weekend...go out and thrive! 🎨Cheryl
Hi Alma
Check out Carmen Herrera. She has an interesting last twenty years of her life. I also enjoyed a lot a book called Non Conformers. A new history of self-taught artists. It was very inspiring. Thanks for sharing your experience with others.
Oooh! I love that title. Thanks for the book recommendation, Artemis!
An excellent read, Alma. I can certainly relate as I only started making art five years ago and I'm on the far end of my 50s now. I was really inspired by a book I read last year - you may like it, too. https://brooklynrail.org/2018/07/art_books/Old-in-Art-School-A-Memoir-of-Starting-Over
Beth, thank you for the book recommendation! It sounds so perfect for me. Her name is even Nell PAINTER how cool is that?
Hi Alma! Thanks for sharing your thoughts today. I have many of the same thoughts, so this is validating. I, too, left my career 2 years ago. I was a therapist. And similarly to what you did, we are teachers of sorts. We teach others the skills they need for daily life (children) or need to return to their daily lives (adults). I have worked with many people who had to re-learn skills. You are correct. Learning never ends. I have always crafted things and loved working with my hands. I have been working with stained glass as a hobby for close to 40 years, but only 2 years ago began using paper and paints (aside from the kid art I used in the clinic). I became surprisingly addicted to it! At first I channeled my inner 4th grader. I remembered some of the things I did as a kid, and some of the things I used with the kids at the clinic. And I was lucky enough to fall in with the right art group online. These supportive groups provided the safe space for my practice to grow. I am doing this all for myself. I feel like I spent decades in the service of others, teaching skills and helping regain skills. Now it is my turn to focus on myself. Everything is starting to flow together. I may not make a living at this, but maybe I can have a little table of HandMade journals with hand dyed papers at the farmers market some day! My retired therapist friends and I have begun getting together once a week for a Zoom Art hour doing art. We are all doing simple work and encouraging each other. It’s really fun and rewarding. We are all over 60 and just enjoying our time together and encouraging each other in our endeavors. And of course learning from each other. I have passed your newsletter along to them, and some are in Amy’s Mindful Art Community as well. I enjoy following your art and watching it grow and seeing you branch out into this newsletter (look forward to it). Thanks for letting me go along for the ride! Have a wonderful weekend! 💖Cheryl
PS: You were asking about women who began their art careers later. Louise Fletcher (Art Juice podcast) - Amy turned me on to Art Juice; and Andrea Garvey who was a graphic designer and quit a few years ago to pursue art. Andrea now teaches classes and will begin offering classes for how to build your art business. I am in her FB creative community. She has a live Studio Chat every Saturday morning 10:00 PT (she’s in Santa Cruz Calif.) Very positive and supportive group. She also has some of her art printed onto scarves.
Cheryl! Thank you, thank you for sharing your story with me. I am deeply honored. Just as what I wrote validates you, what you wrote validates me! How magical is that? My favorite part about what you wrote was "Now it is my turn to focus on myself!" Yesssss! You are a gift in my life. Thank you for the referrals of Andrea Garvey and Louise Fletcher. I listen to Art Juice, too and I love Louise best! I enjoy seeing your creations on IG too. Warmly, Alma
Yes, magical! I have always had a hard time justifying spending time on myself. I think I got it from my mom who was the same way. But my “words of the year” are Let It Go. Whether it’s a notion like that (in my head holding me back) or something I have made that needs to go to someone else, I am working on that on a daily basis. Part of that is letting go of the notion that self care is “primping”. So now I am working on accepting that I deserve this time and I deserve to thrive (not just survive). Have a beautiful weekend...go out and thrive! 🎨Cheryl