Gather and see the music
with original portraits on vinyl.

Home | About | Press | FAQ | Gallery | Shop | Custom

Friday, October 19, 2007

Exposing Myself


Otis Redding

I love doing what I do! I get paid to expose myself! Being an artist is hard, but satisfying in that my direct creative expression is getting attention and appreciation. I put part of myself, my soul, into my art, and yes, my goal has become to sell myself. I used to shudder thinking about that aspect of being a professional artist. Now, though, it feels better than working for someone else. I AM my business. It is frustrating to not get feedback and to feel ignored sometimes, but it has built my self-confidence a great deal. I believe in myself. I'm not sure anybody would recommend becoming an artist to bolster one's self-esteem, but it definitely encourages self-reliance. I have to be my own biggest fan. For me, that's big, as before now, I was my biggest critic, not cutting myself slack for mistakes and imperfections that I far overlooked in others. I still hold myself to high standards, but optimistically!

I'm realizing this on a day with little visible progress. I painted Otis Redding because I wanted to, not for a client. I added an XML sitemap to my website for search engines which already have me indexed. And I created yet another profile/gallery for a free artists' directory with no other posts in its forum since September. Yet, the more things I do to promote my online presence, my artwork, myself, the more I realize that I must consider myself worth it! I'm spending all this time on me!

This post, then, is meant to share my inspiration. Not quite an epiphany or anything too profound, just a simple acknowledgement of how lucky I am to be my own business. My ultimate goal in being an artist is to spread my idea and creativity to as many people as I can, to bring people together by communicating about our collective culture, and to live a human life. It's why we're here I think, to be humans and to be understood as the individuals that we are within humanity.

What do YOU think?

I also submitted a press release to AP.org regarding Newport Nights this October 27th at Primitive Kool in San Diego. Hopefully they'll find it suitable for distribution, but in the meantime, if you haven't:

CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT: http://www.vinylart.info/

and see the 16 pieces that'll be on display and for sale!

Otis Redding 10/19/07


4 comments:

Absolutely Small said...

This is a beautiful post. I'm on the same path right now...you're right- it's scary, but also wonderful. I can relate to a lot of what you've written here. Keep up the good work!

Daniel Edlen said...

Thank you so much, fellow dog-lover!

Anonymous said...

Hi. I'm Wendy; I just took over writing for Artist's Passion. I have to say, I agree. The artists who make it are the ones who go out and promote their work as if it were a business. The ones who don't are the artists who think they should only be thinking about their art and making their art instead of actively sharing it with the world. You have a wonderful freedom the majority of people in the world don't.

Daniel Edlen said...

Exactly. I like the promotional aspect because I get to connect with people enjoying my art. That's why I'm putting it out there after all.

Thanks for the comment, Wendy!