Why I Paint
I started painting a while ago. I’ve continued on and off as time and space have allowed. I enjoy it a lot and have struggled recently to continue to make time for it. Being a husband, father, and friend, working three jobs, and making time to exercise my body and spirituality every day has proven to be the most challenging juggling I’ve ever done. But the paint still calls me. I am drawn to a blank canvas like a parched mouth is to water. It’s as if I must paint; I must play with color, shape, pattern, and texture. I want to add beauty to the world.
It’s interesting in 2022, or really since the Pandemic, I feel extra pressure to monetize anything and everything that brings me joy. How can we succeed at a side hustle? How will we ever become true boss babes?!?! Ha. If the pressure is a balloon inside me, I continue to pop it with my pin needle mindset: I will not succumb to creating for cash flow. I am not a slave to capitalism. Or maybe I am, and this is the only way to rebel. There is nothing wrong with exchanging money for art, and I emphatically support it, so why couldn't I embrace it? I figured I was merely splattering my heart on a canvas. What is that worth? I may never have a definitive answer to that question, and I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable valuing my art monetarily, yet I'm still going to do it.
I’ve told myself countless times I am not a real artist. Well, what is a real artist anyway? Who decides? I paint, write, and create. I am an artist. I have decided. If you see something beautiful and what to support this artist, just let me know.
Color Theory is from the first four months of 2022, birthed out of my dedication to play. It explores color and aesthetics while also serving as an exercise in saying yes to my creative heart, mind, and soul. This is Color Theory.
-L