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 . .  as I got older, the world tried to tell me I could never make a living as an artist.  And that dream was pushed to the side.  As time went on, I put down the brushes for college, music (believe it or not I was a classically trained oboe player), and then jobs after college to support myself.  But I was always creating.  I didn’t know what to do with the creative yearning I still had inside of me when I moved to Nashville with my husband.  We both worked in the music industry. It was a lot of fun, working with amazing people and recording artist. But yet, I still had this yearning inside me. Something important. So I bought some paints, pastels, paper and canvas and explored once again on my own my artist gifts, teaching myself how to paint at night after working all day in a cubical in an office.

 

Something started to bloom. 

 

I started creating greeting cards, and getting published in gift books.  Just a little side hustle while keeping my day job. I loved it.  

 

And then things took a turn.

 

After a rough and problematic pregnancy, we had a beautiful baby boy. But at the same time my husband and I both lost our jobs with the calliopes of segments of the music industry. We only had seven short months of severance. Everything was being threatened.  Riddled with fear of losing our home, health insurance, and my mental health... you name it, we began to move towards one the most important decisions of my life. Embracing faith, and with the precious gift of our son, we pivoted towards my art carreer.

 

I believe, all along, there was a bigger force preparing me for that moment.  It was like all those years of teaching myself how to paint during those lonely nights, putting it out there and getting paid for what I loved to do,  was preparing and pushing me out there, to launch full throttle into the one dream I was too scared to try.  The one dream that others around me said I could never do. The one dream I was designed for and born to do.

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With the massive encouragement of my dear husband, I taught myself how to paint on larger canvases while my baby took naps, or played in his exersaucer.  Big canvases, I always wanted to try, but never did.  Ignoring fear, I painted and painted and painted, knowing it was now or never. I felt I really didn’t have a choice.  And when my severance ran out seven months later, on the eight month I sold enough paintings to pay our bills! What?!  It spoke volumes….I was meant to be doing this.

 

Fast forward many years later, I’m continuing my art practice at more expansive levels working with galleries and collectors around the world.  Taking risks, experimentation, and always evolving in the studio are my daily mantra. I don’t wait for inspiration. I daily show up in the studio and begin.  To me, if I continue to explore materials, subjects, and experiment with different techniques, I remain true to myself as an artist, not unlike the very first time I picked up a paint brush and moved paint around on canvas. 

 

Making marks.  Beautiful marks.  It’s a tribute to that little girl who painted her first painting and said “That’s was fun,  I want to paint another one”.  

 

And so it is.

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- Sandra Meyer

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