When I was a kid, I wanted to make perfect art.
I wanted to color in the lines.
I wanted to make things that looked real.
I worked hard at it but never met my own standards. Yet, I can still remember some pieces I created as a kid, that I thought were pretty good.
I wish I'd had a teacher or mentor to teach me that if you want a photographic likeness, you can take a photo. And art can abstract out real world things or be completely abstracted.
It would have saved me a lot of hand cramps!
I have a secret:
I don't have good coordination. My fine motor skills are crap. It's painful for me to try to be neat or precise when writing or painting.
Art can be messy!
I love to be loose and messy in my art. I wish I'd figured out sooner, that was ok. In fact, many artists have the opposite problem. They find it hard to loosen up!
I lost my art
By age 30, I stopped creating art.
Maybe it was frustration with imperfection.
Maybe it was just life being busy.
When I lost it, I also lost joy in my life.
But like so many people, art ended up on my pandemic BINGO card.
I signed up for online art journaling classes and was having a lot of fun. But the stuff I was making, was not me.
Many of the teachers did art that I felt was too precious, too pastel, too cute. It was delightful in its own way, but it wasn't who I am.
I found a woman named Jenny Grant.
The intros to her videos, made me feel like I was stepping from outside, into her interior world.
She's in Sweden. Her videos start outside, and it feels like a brisk, chilly day. She walks you into her studio. It feels cozy, like the Nordic concept of hygge.
I loved her art. It's not my art, it's not my voice, but somehow she shined a light that helped me begin to find my own way.
Her art is grungy and complexly layered. Her work is intuitive and I could feel how she felt the art speak to her and how she'd transform her work and in turn, her work transformed her.
I started to get more bold, rather than trying to copy or riff off of others. I gave myself permission to not be precise.
I could be messy.
I could be me.
Along the way, people started recognizing my work.
I got into a competitive juried art show at The Sanchez Art Gallery in Pacifica, CA.
I sold some pieces.
And I realized, I want to help others take this journey.
What Wild Hands is about
At Wild Hands, I believe that everyone has their own unique artistic voice, waiting to be discovered.
Art isn’t just about skill—it’s about expression, exploration, and letting go of limitations.
Everyone is talented, and with the right encouragement, that talent can flourish.
Wild Hands is here to guide you on that journey, providing the space and inspiration to unlock your creativity.
Together, we can embrace the wildness of art and help you find your voice.