Art Party Vol II

Wouldn’t it be fun to get a bunch of artists together in one space to paint, listen to good music, and vibe together for a few hours? Yes? I agree. So, last year, I started hosting seasonal art parties for my friends and family. The first one was amazing and so was the second! At that second party is actually where I started this piece titled, “Art Party Vol II”. Even though the art party was super fun, my life ended up changing dramatically after. 

Literally the next day, I learned that a few people that I had in life were envious of me, backstabbing me, and keeping a ton of secrets from me. I was shocked and realized that the past year of my life and interactions with these people were not as genuine as I thought. I found out because they were so bold as to tell MY friends about their betrayals, I guess assuming that everyone hated me as much as they did. I have to just laugh at the audacity of that one. Shortly after this realization, one of my closest friends moved to Los Angeles, from Atlanta. Having a friend move across the country and not being able to physically see them while going through a challenging time was rough. 

On a positive note, I did also get approved for my very first apartment that’s just mine! Yet, that also meant that it was official that I’d be moving out of the apartment that I’ve shared with my best friend and made amazing memories in for the past 2 years. It was very bittersweet. Then, just when things were starting to settle out, someone stole some money out of my account, leaving me to have to get a new debit card. I’m not done. After that, I got pulled over for a brake light apparently being out and found out that despite my driver’s license stating that it expires in 2027, it actually showed that it expired in 2023 in the legal system. Therefore, the officer revoked my license and I had to go days without being able to drive my car, had to rely on others for transportation, and spend hours at the DDS getting a new license, all while being in the midst of moving, working a full time job, and maintaining my business.

While all of these crazy things were going on in my life, I was working on this painting and interestingly enough, I was having a similar experience through the art. I only finished the underpainting layer at the party (I was too busy hosting to paint). Then, when I continued working on it, I realized that I didn’t like the way that some of the colors were looking, so I had to wipe off all of that paint, put in a fresh layer of white, wait for that to dry, then start over. Once I was satisfied with my colors, I realized that the piece would take more layers than I thought to create my desired look. I spent hours and hours painting and painting. Then, I got to a space where I liked the piece, but didn’t love it. This pushed me to try new techniques and textures that I hadn’t before in my work. In this piece I played with texture through cords and glitter and spent so much time working through the details of where I wanted to place my different elements. 

Creating this piece forced me to stretch and expand as an artist, just as life was forcing me to stretch and expand as a person. What I truly learned throughout this phase of my life was to trust the process. There were so many times over the past few weeks, where I could’ve easily given up on myself or fallen into a depression. I could’ve wondered why me or what do I do now? I could’ve allowed the setbacks or confusion to take me into a place of stagnancy, but I didn’t. With the painting, I could've refused to finish it. I could've stopped working on it when I had to start over or I could've internalized the rocky process and doubted myself as an artist, but I didn't.

Sometimes, art can be left up to interpretation, but as the artist I want to make it clear that this piece represents resilience and being willing to push yourself beyond what you think you know or can handle. This piece is about believing in yourself despite any challenges or obstacles. Through this piece I learned a valuable lesson about trusting in myself and I hope that whoever has the pleasure of owning this piece one day, feels inspired to expand and believe in themselves every time they see it. As I always say, my intention is that as I share pieces of me, they resonate with pieces of you, and by us showing up as our most authentic selves, we create a ripple effect and change the world. Peace.