Welcome to my little world of making! How nice that you’re here! I’m wondering what brought you over… If you like fun, creative, detailed art that reminds you of your childhood, that’s exactly what I’m making! If you’re a collector with a big heart for artists and traditional art, I’m so grateful to you and will forever be 🙏🏻!! And if you’re an artist who’s feeling lost and doesn’t know how the heck to turn art into a living, you’re in the right place! Cause that makes two of us 😂!!
I’m 49 (turning 50 this year) and I’ve spent all my adult life trying to rewrite my childhood story: I married the man that my parents didn’t want me to marry, I worked for 30 years in an exporting company I didn’t wish to work for (but I was telling myself it was the only way to support me and my family) and I tried to become the mother that I never had. And let me tell you… I failed at everything! I am now freshly out of my 30-year-old marriage, living alone in a rented apartment and not knowing what I’m gonna do with my life. I have no degree, no professional education, I’m self-taught at everything and I’m still remaining the little stubborn kid who wants to make things her way. Which means: I want to be an artist, but I don’t want to make the obvious (and tested) choices: youtube-patreon-online lessons which at the moment seem like they will take away all the creative time!! Talk about feeling like Luna Lovewood of the art world!!
Somewhere along the line of my business career, I tried becoming an artist (it was the dream of my life, since no other dream had come to replace it) and this is what I managed: -started contacting galleries and showing with them -somehow managed to get myself 145K followers on Instagram (which is apparently a big deal but kinda ‘sleeping’ at the moment since I’m not following the trends) -went on a workshop in Seville with the amazing Mab Graves -attended an online seminar with the divine Benjamin Lacombe -got 4 solo shows and literally crashed emotionally before each one -got to participate on 30 group shows worldwide and -had my work magically adopted by many collectors all around the world ❤️. But you know… no matter what I do, it’s never enough! I still feel stuck, I’m trying to figure out how to make a living, I’m thinking of a 100 different ways and new things to try (and fail to be consistent on most of them), and I can’t get myself to get out there and really show my work. It seems-so-difficult! I DON’T WANT to!
I don’t want to be the artist who dies while creating work that nobody gets to see and want. But mostly, I don’t want to be the Youtuber and online creator who doesn’t have time to make and improve their art. When Mab Graves had asked me “what do you want to achieve with your art?” my answer was: “I just want to paint”. And it still remains the same, only I’ve added my paper sculptures to it too, since then: I just want to paint and sculpt 🥹
I know we are many people wanting the same things, but do we really all have to be alike? Post+show ourselves online all the time? Showing our studios and our lives and our houses to everyone, so as to get attention? Can I say it again? I DON’T WANT to!
I just want to create beautiful things. Read and learn, and share what I’m learning. But in my way, which is more private, more personal and more quiet. I don’t wish to shout about my presence. I just want to create quietly (without worrying if I’ll exist the next day or die from hunger), and be around people who enjoy doing the same things as I. Who like to help and don’t wish to use or exploit anyone.
I’ll finish this exquisite bio of mine (lol!) by leaving links to the work of the wonderful people who have deeply affected me and helped me to find peace and decide to pursue what I want in life. Even without knowing what it really is yet…
If you’re in any way like me, stick around. I’m determined to figure out how to make it! In a way different than the obvious way. And I’ll be sharing my process and give you tips on where I fail and what I manage, so that you can adopt it into your process too. This is pretty much what my newsletter is about, so if you like to stick around, you can join the list if you want.
See you around! Take care! And keep creating 🎨!!
Love,
Zelyss