Floating Every Step of The Way

Talking about being artsy fartsy

Change is hard. Lately, I’ve been dealing with this firsthand in terms of my creativity in that there’s a feeling of what I was doing in my career is not necessarily what I want to be doing in my future. I’ve written about the coffee shop, this will happen eventually, though now isn’t the right time. So then, what is the outlet for my creativity?

Taking a step back, I saw a few “signs” lately that kind of, I don’t want to say confirmed, but scratched an itch in my brain. A feeling like, oh yeah, that’s a familiar feeling! One was a tweet from Dan Cassaro (which made me laugh but also, agreed) and the other a random person, who summarized something I’ve felt for a while now, a feeling of “serving as a vessel to execute, rather than be trusted with my opinion and expertise.” I’ve been designing for 26 years and I’m tired of having to over-explain and over-sell good ideas! I’m tried of uneducated opinions! The democratization, and popularization of design, is exhausting.

The last sign was a surprising dinner conversation. Kyle met a woman through a creative lunch get-together, hit it off with her, so we arranged a dinner together. We chatted about our lives here in Barcelona and some of the things we like to do when she mentioned that she was going to art classes. “Art classes? That’s so interesting, what are you studying?” She proceeded to show me some very impressive oil paintings she’d recently completed, which spurred something in me. Why don’t I try my hand at art again?

Twenty-something years ago I would have considered myself an artist. I was attending a local college and taking as many of the $40 art classes as I possibly could with no intention of getting a degree, I just wanted to learn. I learned figure sculpture, pastels, charcoal, ceramics. You name it, I tried it. Sitting there hearing this woman’s story I thought about all the beautiful things I had made in the past. It made me think of a conversation I had with Kyle’s aunt about the difference between art and design, how the goal of design is to solve problems while the point of art is expression. And there is no wrong way to express oneself.

I’ve decided I want to start making art again. I’ve already started drawing on my iPad (a baby step) and I’ve contacted a local ceramic studio to see if I can rent a space for a month to try sculpting again. My interests lie in sculpting some weird looking busts and heads, an idea of trying to express some of my own emotions, as well as capturing some of the people I see here. Sorta Brâncuși/Giacometti/Picasso vibes, you know, just sculpt like some of the most famous abstract sculptors of the last century lol…

We shall see how this goes! I think there’s so much potential here and I need to try it to see if I can do it again. I’ll keep ya’ll updated on how things are going, what I make, etc. Hope you have a lovely week, and the weather is warm and lovely wherever you are 💙

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by my partner, Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick, is a sharp and insightful look at all the things going on in the world, arriving every Sunday to your inbox. Highly recommended, obviously.