Have you ever followed an artist’s career?

Over the course of a lifetime an artist can change styles greatly or maybe change mediums time and time again.

This was a topic during a discussion with a long time friend. She commented on how much my artwork has changed over the course of years. I am lucky to have physical evidence of how I’ve evolved as a human being. The early ones were mostly academic attempts and then environmental. I became sentimental in some pieces as life changed. Then back to academia as I explored getting better at my craft. Suddenly I became internal and then philosophical.

That exercise of looking at the progression prompted me to look through the works of Frida Kahlo, Pablo Piccasso and Georgia O’Keefe as well as others. Noticing how some of them changed and grew both as an artist and as a human being.

To pull back and view my own work over the course of time offered an interesting insight. Depending on which pieces I choose, I can create a narrative that may or may not be true to my heart in the moment.

Isn’t that what this experience of life is like? We can focus on the trials and traumas and weave a yarn about an oppressed soul. OR we can look back at the accomplishments and accolades and tell the tale of a hero. I’m trying to keep that in mind when I talk to myself.

What do you choose to focus on in your own life?