Renaissance

Happy Thursday! It’s officially been 4 weeks since my first blog post, and I’ve gotta say I’m pretty excited about the slow and steady growth thus far. I started out knowing that it would take some time and consistency to gain traction, and though I’m not quite where I want to be yet, seeing any progress at all, is fulfilling to me ?

Choosing this week’s topic was a bit tough, as I’ve been keeping a list of topics, and I can’t decide which I want to elaborate on first. I named this “Renaissance” for obvious reasons, and want to go back a little bit and reflect on the restart to my art journey. In a previous post, I spoke about the genesis of my creative interest, and the building blocks that gave me the mindset I have to create. So I think if I were to try and work in chronicle logic order this would be the next marker.

There was a rather long period that I spent little to no time at all, on visual art. If I did, it was very seldom, and very short lived. In these times, I relied more on my writing and used my very minimal sewing skills to customize my clothing. I mostly divided time up between friends and the local music scene, and at that time, I was required to attend church pretty frequently. The urge to paint, draw, or color had burrowed deep, and wouldn’t resurface for a good while. I just didn’t have the patience or the supplies, and that time creating would be much better spent with my people haha. Being a teenager, hobbies required a high level of interest in order to attract my attention, and increasing levels of interest to hold it. It’s pretty accurate to say that my focus has always been here one second, and off somewhere else the next. It’s something that I’m still taming, or at least learning to channel and juggle successfully.

The revamp to this journey skips around a bit, but if you can keep up, here it goes….The year was 2006, in very few and simplest of words, that year was fully loaded. I felt a lot like a drifter, and I guess technically I was for a little more than half the year. Things seemed pretty grim, but quite honestly, these would be some of the most formative times in my life. I wandered around a lot, I partied a lot, and I met a lot of oddly beautiful people through it all. It would all lead me to a group of new friends, whom I had made through a few twists of the small town web. They were sort of like young, new age hippy kids who really weren’t quite traditional hippies hahaha. Sweet, compassionate souls, rough around the edges and each wonderfully unique. Sadly, the memories are a bit faded, but I can recall hanging out after work at an old midtown apartment. Five or six of us were almost always guaranteed to wind up there, three of those people being the tenants. Pabst tall boys, rolled cigarettes, ganja and acoustic guitars; every night had something to offer. No matter what would transpire, smiles and laughter kept the dim apartment lit, from wall to wall. Everyone who hung out in this apartment was an artist in their own way, and in some cases, multiple ways. I spent many mornings, afternoons, and nights watching them create, I was inspired and in awe. One morning while having coffee and watching a friend paint, they insisted that I join them. Kind of funny thinking back and how nervous I felt, but how badly I knew I wanted to. So, I did. Only a little at first but, instantly I felt the rush of the familiar. I missed painting, and only in that first moment over coffee, had I actually realized I missed it. As great as this would feel, it was only a small nudge, but an important one nonetheless.

Circa 2007. Life is a lot more stable, and this is the year I legally become an ADULT O.o I’ve already established a new life and routine; school, work, and friends, but so much less time for the latter. Things were on a steady up tick and there was still so much more coming. By fall, a settlement for a previous accident would be available, and I would lease my first home, buy a car, and move my younger sisters in! Life was pretty sweet, and in a home furnishing trip to Hobby Lobby, it would get even sweeter! While wandering around all the aisles, I made my turn down the canvas aisle…..I couldn’t help but notice, that they were having a huge sale!! I had more money for spending than I normally EVER would, and this sale was one I wasn’t going to miss! 3 aisles, $350, and one full cart later, I was ready to get home and play! Back home, in the living room, with the bags dumped all over the floor, I sat in a sea of art supplies. I felt pretty freaking happy, and so anxious; I bought literally everything! A lot of the things I’d had in the past, were long gone. I bought canvases, brushes, pallets, acrylics, watercolors, oils, pencils, and pastel chalks, I was set! I had no real plans, other than pure enjoyment. Something to give me back the freedom of visual expression. This would lead to me finding out that one of my great grandmothers, was also an artist. In her passing she left an abundance of art supplies to her son, my grandpa. He would eventually gift them to me once he realized I had really taken to painting. This would be the beginning of my supply collection, she too worked with acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pastels. Not to mention the truly priceless lesson books she had, particularly the Bob Ross ones ? I’m blessed to still have a great deal of her things, and I still use them frequently.

Fast forward 2011, I recently moved back to my home town (Pueblo, CO) from Albuquerque NM. A bit lost for direction, but not a stranger to the feeling in the slightest. I took over a lease of a 3 BR apartment, and took on a job at a nearby pawn shop. School hadn’t panned out, leaving town didn’t change much, and I just didn’t really know what direction I wanted to go in. Life around me would be pretty crazy, but ultimately I was pretty happy where I was, even if things felt frequently unstable. I was back home. I had a place to live, a job I thoroughly enjoyed, and I didn’t have to miss my friends! I had full intentions to just live and enjoy living, and so I started venturing out into new scenes. Pueblo was no stranger to talented souls, in fact, I think it’s a breeding ground for some of the most incredible artists I’ve known! A night out at a bar called The Senate, my first live art experience, would motivate me in a whole new way. A popular local DJ would work the mood, while around the dance floor painters were hard at work. This was exhilarating for me, I loved to examine technique and overall allow myself to become mesmerized and absorbed in the process. Meanwhile, off in the corner, an artist was prepping a board for work. Dressed in a hoodie with the hood up he sort of remained mostly a figure obscured by lights, and spent most of his time turned toward the masonite board. The board was black, tall, and narrow. Before he began, he stood back for a moment, jammed out to the music, and moved toward his paints. I won’t ever forget watching this dude take a handful of white paint, and using only his hands, work this paint into a blob that strongly resembled Elvis. Initially, it infuriated me! Here I had been spending so much time working with different materials, brushes, and strokes in order to advance my skills, and here this guy was making magnificent art using his hands!?!?! The nerve! Hahaha needless to say I had to know who he was, and I needed to pick his brain! We became buds via social media and decided to meet up and collaborate. We hit it off immediately, and our collaboration would be one of my favorite pieces of art, to this day! This friendship would prove to be crucial and even still this friend is the greatest mentor I could ask for, it would be him that would give me the final push. Art wasn’t just a hobby anymore, it was an undeniable part of who I am, and I wanted to pursue this new found realization. I wanted to be a legit artist.

In 2012 I quit my job at the pawn shop and moved to Raton, NM to be with my grandparents. I would commit most of my day to assisting with their care and  helping with chores. Any available time I had , I worked on paintings. By this time Facebook was already the new fad, and I took to sharing my work online. Eventually I made an art page and began taking art commissions regularly! It had finally began to come together! Managing time frames, pricing, ideas, and different clients was a lot of fun to learn. My skills felt as though they were improving, and it felt amazing to be selling work. To this day I’ve still yet to have a year quite like that one, but have found in the time since then, that my style and interests are much broader. I still take commissions every once in a while, but my curiosity has drawn me to many different projects. In this moment, my never-ending interests and short attention span is a dual edged sword, but I fully intend to learn to wield this sword and carve out my place in the art world. I just want to follow my ideas where ever they will take me, but I want to ensure that I can manage to reach a point of completion with any project I take on. And I have definitely taken on a ton of dead end projects ? hahaha

From here the story gets really, really interesting, and quite amazing if you ask me. 2013 would be the year that would change life as I knew it, but I won’t say any more about it in this post! So I guess you’ll just have to come back next week for the next chapter of this little journey that art has taken me on. 

As usual, if you have taken any time to read any of the entries on this blog, my thanks isn’t enough. Using this platform as a means to connect, release and consume has been having a very positive impact on my days, and my ability to focus more on my current art projects. This post is particularly long, and if you made it, you’re the sh*t ? I hope you come back again! Have an awesome week, see you next Thursday ?

? Miki Len