We can’t help being influenced by other people. We arrive on this planet knowing very little. We heard sounds while we were in the womb, particularly the sound of our mother’s voice.  We are shaped by our culture as we learn how to speak and act. As artists, we are influenced not only by what we see around us, but by how other artists have interpreted the sights they saw and then expressed in images and words. 

Many of us want to say something in a new way. We want to be innovative. Creative. 

That’s a lot of pressure we put on ourselves!  Humans and other humanoids have been making marks on substrates for tens of thousands of years. And we are trained to fit in. To assimilate. Most people probably do not want to call attention to themselves. This training, or domestication, can be a roadblock to unapologetic creativity. 

Letting go of the imposed expectations can open the door to your uniqueness. Your true self. But we still do so within the context of our nationality, religious dogma, social or work communities. 

I find joy in even a glimmer of unadulterated expression, and realize that I won’t be able to do it or see it within the confines of this body. 

Those rare glimmers motivate me to grip the moving paintbrush or pen. 

In my years of mentoring art students, I’ve advised people to keep doing what they do with an open mind, and often they will effortlessly find their “next big thing.”

We all see the world differently. Of course our interpretation of an event, view or object will come out differently than the person painting right next to us. 

When I was about to enter art school, my dad admonished me not to paint abstract art.  This became a difficult hurdle for me!  It took years, but now most of what I paint is abstract. 

Even when I was known for painting landscapes, though, I brought a bit of whimsy to the images by painting fish in the branches of trees.