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PAGES OF REFLECTION – what it takes to become an ARTIST (LESSON 1) 93

Dear reader, wherever you may be, whatever language you speak, whichever stage in life you are, I hope you are an admirer of art.

This is because I plan to make the next few blog articles into a reflective journal about my experience of living and creating art. And as inconsistent as I am in general, I am pretty confident that this time I can give my stories continuity and meaningfulness not just for me, but for you too.

I plan to talk about my LESSONS of creating art, as selfish and personal as they may look at first sight. I’ll do it regularly because I’m confident that there is at least one person out there just like me: someone who makes mistakes, someone who struggles to understand their real call, their real style, their unique place in the world; but most of all, someone who fights to make peace with what they are becoming instead of what the world wants them to be.

Today's LESSON 1

How do you grow into a reputable artist without any expertise or previous experience?

This is a question that keeps on bothering me every time I find yet another successful artist on Instagram. It looks as if every great artist of our days has some sort of previous art-related education, hours and hours of guided advice, work with a purpose, and of course, the TALENT.

For instance, check on wonderful Yvette Coppersmith:

-Archibald Prize, 2018

-studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia.

-more than 21 years of experimenting with styles and subjects

-painting self-portraits since the age of 17

Yvette Coppersmith Archibald Australia portrait prize outstanding sydney artist

Painting by Australian artist Yvette Coppersmith, winner of the Archibald Prize 2018

How does MY art journey ever come close to such a glorious artist?

I bet you too keep on ruminating about the same thing as me: Maybe it’s not even worth it. Maybe it’s yet another waste of time…

But this morning I finished painting this:

surreal art painting decoration christine onward sydney artist night beautiful

"After the Dark", by Christine Onward (all rights reserved). For sale HERE

Right through the open blinds a few sun rays started coming in. I watched them dancing merrily on the colours of the painting. That whole world, right there in the paper, was coming to life right in front of me… I was witnessing a miracle.

I had created a world that was a reflection of myself. Somewhere in this world someone like me will find themselves in this story, as much as I did. Maybe more in my painting than in other people’s paintings. Maybe I get to make them smile. And that’s the best accomplishment I can achieve.

My lesson for today is this:

Every story you create has you in it, your adventures, your memories, your sadness, your heart. Someone will surely connect with it. If not today, they will surely show up tomorrow.

The more stories there are, the more people will connect with your art. Just keep on creating. Reward will come.

Loving these stories? Here is a beautiful story from my childhood : Surreal Night in Transylvania

More outstanding products from my latest surreal paintings are HERE

tote bag surreal night sleep story tote bag original art night black birds christine onward tote bag christine onward sale night painting surreal story lessons blog