disclaimer: all photos i share on my posts are my own. photos of art are of my own art unless otherwise noted

hi y’all! hope you have a lovely start to your week! First things first, i wanna say:  

my hope with sharing my writing here is that it resonates to you whether you identify as an artist or not. If you feel called to share how anything of what i make has resonated, please leave a comment, i’d love to know! With that in mind, here goes my first actual share with you all.

Right now, I’ve been finding myself tuning into what i actually want to do with art. Not what i think is expected of me or what i’ll be able to sell eventually. And tbh, it’s more of a journey rather than question-and-answer situation. First of all, having this choice in the 1st place is a privilege – I’m only able to afford to do this because i have a full time job that pays for my needs. 

I’m noticing that when there is a pressure to make a living off our art, especially for those of us who grew up working class, our brains absolutely shift to that hustle + strategic mode which can be generative in different ways (no shame at all), but i have found it also shifts my ability away from coming up with stuff that could potentially be really affirming, bold, make me feel alive and not just like a cog (a little intense lol but true!)

This in turn teaches me how much of a gift and how truly valuable it is to be able to make art that is authentic to one’s expression/existence without the pressure to redirect our time & resources to make something that is palpable and consumable.

So how is this showing up? tbh…  i’ve been going back to basics, even outside of art. Mostly through my sketchbook, listening to my body, and even being more consistent with keeping a tidy living space. And also being away from IG, which has been… complicated 😅. I’ve noticed over the course of the last few months that all of these have a pretty big impact on my ability to show up artistically. 

I’ll be sharing what each of these look like in my next post for this month (still figuring out my schedule). Cause this post already feels pretty overwhelming for my neurodivergent brain lol. Stay tuned.

Other things

Music i’ve been re-playing that feels soothing and invigorating as heck – Siyabuela by Asher Gamedze (link is to youtube video with album still image; contemporary jazz), Hymn of Healing by Beautiful Chorus (link is to youtube video with album still image; voice chorus with repeating affirming messages)

Hasta pronto,

Amor as Lucha