On being a self taught artist.

What it means to be a self taught artist?

Being and doing your thing sometimes feels like you could be a failure,

no one is there to tell you you are doing it well or wrong or how could it be done

better, you are just guided by your instincts and experience.

And there is that little voice inside asking, is that good enough?

After years of being one of the so called self taught artist,

 I´ve learned that fear and doubt only means you 

don´t trust your inner guidance and what you have learned already.  

Doubt is the main problem when you feel you are 

not enough or that you haven´t get to were you should or that 

others are better than you. I would add that we are expecting from 

the world the applause we think we should be getting!

The real gain that walking your own path could give, is knowledge.

The gains of true knowledge are silent.

Everybody in every study field is self taught, either you are alone in your

home or in a class at school, you are the only one grabbing what you need at 

this moment for your journey, you are the one who decides what and how to 

use it, if it goes deep or superficial, depends on you alone, but we can blame

it on talent, our parents, not having the money or time, etc...

When we do so, we are only hiding in the comfort place we´ve been for

years ´cause effort has a price we are still not willing to pay.

 Schools help but are not the teacher, you are.

"When the student is ready the teacher will appear"  

When you are ready to learn something, you will teach your self that, 

you will pay more attention to that until you learn it. Or you will find

the perfect situation to help you see the needed lesson for this 

applies to life as well.

When you´ve learned a certain thing, it doesn´t mean you are better than

the rest, the proof is that anyone can learn the same thing and even get better

than you, we see in the world many proofs of that, to know it and accept it

 makes us humble, knowledge is infinite, it only stops growing when 

you stop but keeps growing when you add more to it.

Learn from all, knowledge is universal, learn from people, form movies, from

a song, books, from your deep meditations, knowledge does not belong to a single

person, it is of who wants to tap in to it, don´t take it personal if someone "steals" 

your ideas, they are not yours alone or else no one could ever know that same

thing ever again anymore.  That is not what we can see in the history of the world.

Different people in different times of history have "discovered" the same things

claiming it´s their inventions, math is not an invention, it´s only a discovery

and part of who we are, that goes for everything we can call knowledge,

it´s only a discovery of the universal truths and you would be more honest

and happier if you accept this.

I´ve been doing an experiment at my studio, I am always trying to learn new

things by trying them, I made studies of other artist I like, I even took some 

online workshops with some, painted a lot of different styles using them as

inspiration to teach my self new paths, new ways of doing things with paint

and ideas, one painting can be a great teacher if you dig it and discover their

hidden teachings.

Don´t be afraid to make studies of other artists so you can learn but know 

that this process can take a while to be absorbed, being an artist is not making big 

hits of art that will be in the number one charts lists as the best painting of the 

moment, being an artist means that you are in a constant learning path 

and 

that 

you 

love it, 

the struggles, the hard days, the challenges are only the way of life of the artist,

it´s how life is helping you improve and grow, if you overcome those 

challenges, you undoubtedly grow, that is the true gain, not the applause

of the world, that doesn´t help you at all to grow, it only feeds your sweet

 indulged ego and it helps for a while but is not what makes us grow.

And yes, anyone can grow if they put the effort it takes.

Why would you stay in the comfort of the known when 

you can discover the unknown?

As they say, no pain, no gain but I say also play!

Work hard but make sure you are enjoying it, it is exciting to have a

goal and helps us have a direction but remember to enjoy the process and

play a lot, playing also teaches if you look for the lessons, they are everywhere!

Is my goal to paint better portraits but some are a huge challenge, it is 

hard work and one that requires a deep concentration and no playing so I 

help my self rest from them by having playful time with my paints too and so

I use my art journal or whatever paper I find to paint fun stuff or just express 

my self, this helps me keep going with the more elaborated works, those give 

me much joy when they are done and hanging in a wall, they remind me about 

my progress and how I´ve been disciplined which is my reward, that´s why 

I paint them, to see my self in those paintings, how I went over laziness, how 

I made time and gave effort, how I challenged my self and how I went for more.

Never settle.  You deserve to be more. 

Your path is unique and beautiful, dare to walk it.

*All works are done with acrylics on paper.

Now I leave you with some tips that have helped me grow and might help you too,

these may be used in other areas of life as well:

Have a goal
Use discipline to get there
Combine discipline with playful time
Work and rest

Have a goal:  What do you want or would like to achieve?
Use this to develop a plan on how and when.

Use discipline to get there:  Keep adding to it, a little every day or every 

two days or three days but keep adding to it, make discipline a habit.

Combine discipline with playful time:  Not every day has to be hard work,

add playful time to your schedule, some days just play and rest, read or 

take a walk, cook or just breath while watching the sunset, those things
also inspire us and teach us in many ways.

Work and rest:  I try to work early in the mornings, I am super fresh and rested

and excited to achieve my goal, I work a few hours then rest or change into 

play mode, then I come back to the discipline or work refreshed again, this way
it doesn´t feel so heavy.

Add your own tips...

Thank you for being here, 

I hope this helps you some how in your 

own journey.

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The struggles of working alone...

What makes us keep going?

Is it hope, is it endurance, 

is it strength, spirit?

I believe it´s a little of each 

along with a deep sown reminder 

of what you love about 

life and what you would´t 

stop doing no matter what.

Each of us has a different story but 

I am sure none of us had it easy, I also

believe this is a secret key for evolution.

Evolution is to overcome were we are,
we start at a new point when we are
born, to overcome what´s already
there, and spirit is building up

and it doesn´t have an end or else

we would have already reach it.

We, self made artists struggle in silence

pain is sometimes hard to bare,

circumstances are adding to each a different

flavor but we love to keep going, for

our spirit wants to grow, it is part of our nature,

inevitably we keep going, strength is build up

this way, even if some days appear dark,

we keep going, some days are also
bright and warm as a soft sunlight!

Here is a fabulous documentary about Da Vinci´s life,
it was inspiring to me, maybe you will like it too...




He didn´t have it easy at all, his time and circumstances were
tough, maybe we have it better somehow...
Also, he didn´t have the distractions we have today, like
tv, the movies, clothing, etc., and perhaps
a decision to focus and devotion to study and discover.

Another key to the lonely searcher as you will learn in the video
is to experiment, Da vinci says, how else are you going to
discover how things work if you don´t try different things?
He did created many new things right?
 Now apply it to your own work...
Change, vary, dare...
At the beginning it may seam awkward and that
you are doing things wrong but consider that
all that humanity has discovered was first veiled.
Even the art master techniques were once nothing.

Being lost in your work or in your life is not wrong,

you may have a great opportunity in your

hands to go for something entirely new,

I feel this way a lot and for a while it´s very

painful but I also try and find a way out, this is my

spirit swimming up to catch a breath and see the 

light so I can keep swimming.

This is another video that inspired me, watch it when you want

but watch it, it also teaches us that research is a lonely path,

we may not be so drastic as they but we should consider the 

elements they used to attain their goals.

I have this painting next to were my computer is,

is tiny, something close to 6" x 8", it is a collage and paint

work, it´s old and the wings are wrong, they are not

angel wings, maybe bat wings, I love my mistake, it 

shows me how naive I was, how I saw things back then,

perhaps I´ve grown and developed my visual skills, 

Pablo Picasso said that painting is like having a diary,

yes, we are keeping a record of time and the knowledge 

we are developing, it´s wonderful to see the child becoming

a young adult, perhaps if we continue, we can see the

adult, maybe senior artist...

The wonders that await are endless in possibilities, just

keep going towards were you dream.

If we have survived up until here, this means 

we are tough and that we can do more!