March 14, 2025

Crossroads : This is a strange post for me. I need to get this out in writing so here I go. I have been studying art for many, many years. I studied in special programs in high school and special programs after high school, I studied in ateliers and academies in Utah. Each program that I attended added something to my artistic skills. The first serious program I attended was in high school. This program taught me basic skills in drawing and painting, but it also taught me to really let loose with my ideas. When I came back to drawing and painting in a more professionally minded way, I felt a need to further my education. I started to attend academies and ateliers that refined my skills but also restricted my conceptual thinking (this was for good reason, its hard to learn the control without a really specific target to hit) Those programs really refined my skills. By the time I finished in those programs I had already started putting myself out there professionally. Every education I was in influenced my art. The feedback that I received from each program helped my art but also changed my art.

Ever since I finished my formal education, I have been struggling with what I want my art to accomplish. The influences and skills I acquired over the years left so many options for what I could do and explore. For years now I have been wanting to catch the feeling I had making art back in high school. But I didn’t want to loose the skills that I had spent so much time sharpening. I have been struggling to find a path to take. I think I have finally found that path. I have studied so much art history, and I follow a lot of living artist very closely. I have a lot of voices in my head about what art should be. I think the scariest part of this path is that I have to really explore. There is not much I can find that matches the vision I have in my mind. So I have to turn inwards.

After all of this, one thing I can say is that for the first time in a long time, I am actually having fun painting and that has to be good enough for now.

Art in High School

Art From professional training

New Art.