Art Work

Anna Maria
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read

When I was a child, my stick figures were better than other children’s stick figures, so I got the encouragement I needed to keep making artistic endeavors after that point when a majority of kids suddenly stop creating.

(How come this happens and how this bothers me is another topic for another day, but very curious…)

Nowadays, my stick figures are full figures. They’re also no longer just a hobby to keep me entertained while my parents worked. They are my work.

a feminist on a bicycle, part of a recent watercolour series, 2017

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Through the years, my childish answer of “Artist!” to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” has gone through all the possible permutations.

Examples include: Fashion Designer, Architect, Public Artist, Graphic Designer, & even for a brief year, Mathematician (haaaaah).

I’m realizing now that all of this — and so much more — falls under being an Artist.

I am still figuring out how to become my dream urban-public-community-building-illustrating-growing-artist, but… I have finally embraced that being an artist is ok. It’s good, even.

acrylic finger painting made for a Standing Rock Benefit Silent Auction, 2016. The owner got this for a steal and I unfortunately forgot to get a better photograph of it.

Putting the work out there

A large part of accepting that I want to be an artist has been the direct result of just actively getting more work out there.

A couple years ago it no longer served me to stockpile sketches and paintings in the back of my closet. My closet isn’t big enough & art doesn’t last well when crumpled up.

Not to mention, just as when I was a child, outside encouragement and a community of support is fundamental to my ability to art. This didn’t happen much when I was hiding.

Additionally, as I was finding myself failing at normal life trajectories, I noticed more and more people I adore and admire modeling things I wanted for myself: love for the process, owning and celebrating mistakes, and the courage to invite others into the work.

Now, I am trying to follow their examples.

A silly, but fruitful, first step was making an ~instagram~ and posting regularly.

I may never post to instagram again, this is just too good.

Perfectionism aside

For the first 100 days, I posted a piece of art every day.

This was a hilarious experience because making art can take me HOURS and I just didn’t have HOURS for a tiny instagram post every day. It meant I couldn’t “perfectionist” these.

Which meant I was posting and owning and connecting with people over things that had mistakes and were part of the process.

And THAT’s the kind of art I actually want to be making. The art that is a part of the urban-public-community-building-illustrating-growing-process-art dream.

Trying to make the perfect piece has generally led to the kind of hiding and paralysis I described in my first post.

a quick camera-phone shot of the mural I created in my living room when I was feeling a lot of things & couldn’t stay paralyzed anymore, 2016.

Inviting YOU to join me

The next step is getting more people involved in my process. I want to invite you in!

To that end, if you’d like to collaborate on a project, contact me!

&&& if you’d like to commission some work from me, contact me about that, too!

I often charge at an hourly rate, which is $55/hr for one-off pieces for individuals and $75/hr for groups/start-ups/etc. However, I am also flexible and interested in making art accessible & the best way to see what we can do together is to talk about it. So — seriously — don’t hesitate to reach out.

(If you live outside the bay area, no worries! We can figure out shipping, but I’ll ask you to cover the cost of this.)

Some context:

This pen portrait took maybe 20 minutes, so about $18.

sharpie on a regular piece of printer paper, from life.

This watercolor mermaid took at least 2 hours, so about $110:

watercolour on the appropriate paper, from the imagination, understandably. about 6"x6".

This 40"x30" acrylic on canvas painting took at least 15 hours, so about $825:

nothing as depressing as the sub-par quality of a photo of a painting.

I know I just linked to my contact page 3 times above (4 now? ahem.), but… even if you just want to talk art and struggles, please reach out. Afterall, I am in it for the community!

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