Am I an Artist ?

As a child I dreamed of being an Artist. My inspiration has always been my mother, from a young age I have enjoying painting alongside my mother. At around 12 years I started attending Art classes, my mother found one the best art teachers in Bangalore and I would travel far to attend the Art classes. I did not particularly enjoy the art classes, they were too technical for me. Soon I lost my dream of becoming an artist.

I continued to draw and paint occasionally but as a hobby. One summer when I was 16 years old my father introduced me to Zentangle. He showed me pictures on the internet. I spent that summer painting and drawing Zentangle and Madhubani by seeing pictures from the internet. I slowly became quite good at Zentangle but I did not consider myself an Artist. I thought an Artist is someone who an expert, who has gone through proper training and who can make amazing paintings of all techniques.

 As I explored Zentangle, I stated sharing the Art with people. I started making the Art on greeting cards and gifting them to people. This led to people asking me to share the technique of the art with them. I took a few sessions on how to do zentangle. I began to realize my connection with art. I then got an opportunity  to make zentangle designs on handmade diaries for an eco friendly shop and did that for a month. It was awesome to see my drawing being sold and earning money for it.This whole experience of reaching a level of skill in Zentangle and being able to bring my own flavors and style gave me confidence on my Art but I still did not think I am an Artist. I did not understand colour combinations or contrast so I could not be called an Artist.

Over few years I explored other art like wall painting, impasto painting, mandala painting, dot art and so on. I also began doing and learning craft like quilling, decoupage, mix media, key chain making, wire art, making things out of waste material and so on.

I am still not an expert, I am still learning and understanding technical things like colour combination and mixing colours but I realized I am an Artist ! I am an Artist not because of my technique or expertise but for the connection I feel with art and passion I feel towards it. The way I enjoy doing art, I feel at peace while I am doing art and the way I show my love to people by gifting some art made by me.


Now I am at a stage of making my Art sell-able. I am working on creating art and craft products myself which I can sell. I am excited to experience the process of selling and pushing my skills to create products.
Another thing I am doing to push myself and give myself confidence is that I started an Facebook page to share my art with people. Also having a FB page gives me commitment towards my art work.

So yes I am an Artist ! and a unique one !