Hopes And Desires

This is a 18″x14″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas.
This painting is available HERE.

We have all experienced dream crushers in our life. Those people that think it is their job to inform us that are dreams are impractical or unrealistic. Growing up working for my parents at their small Inn in Victoria, I met many people, strangers really , the felt that it was up to them to tell me that my desire to be an artist was just plain silly.
‘Art is hobby’ one couple told my sixteen year old self as I poured them coffee for breakfast.
It is amazing to me, when I think back, at how many people told me this. It got to the point that I stopped telling people what I was studying or what my goals were.
Their comments did not changed my desire to be an artist but they did make me feel that it was perhaps a hopeless dream. After all, how do you BECOME an artist? Sure you can go to college and university but let me tell you a little secret, it is not much different there. My professors may have well been those people that I served at sixteen. They were actually teaching us that being an artist for a living was a crazy idea and not only THAT, but if you did manage to make an living as an artist, it must mean that you have sold out.
HUH?
It is no surprise that I remained confused about my desire to be an artist for a very long time. Until I turned forty, actually.
What changed when I turned forty? I was able to turn off those dream crusher voices in my head and realize that the way to become an artist is to create art. As often as possible. End of story. There is no great mystery here. Maybe I am not making as much money as some one with a ‘real job’ but holey moley, I am doing something that I LOVE TO DO.
There is value in that.
There is joy in that.
There is something so SACRED about that.

The thing that makes me so crazy is that, as a parent, I work so hard to cultivate and encourage my children’s dreams and yet one person can come along and destroy it all with a few ‘helpful’ words. So remember, next time a young person tells you what they want to do with their life, just listen, bite your tongue if you have to. Don’t be a dream crusher, be a dream cultivator. *************************************************************************************************

The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.

-Robert Kiyosak

Desire is half of life; indifference is half of death.

-Kahlil Gibran

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.

-Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans

February 8, 2011 | Categories: Art with Children, bright colours, etsy, flowers, illustration, inspired by children, life, Maria Pace-Wynters, mixed media, original art, Pace-Wynters, Painting, painting for sale, paintings, Uncategorized | Tags: aspirations, birds, dreams, hopes, joy, smiling | Comments Off on Hopes And Desires