From the Ashes, I Rise – Outstanding Artist series

Materials used: Oils, mixed media, collage, on un-stretched canvas (will need to be remounted or framed by you).

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This painting is from the third episode in Outstanding Artist.

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When I was 19, I decided to follow my dream and become a full time artist.
My dad had abandoned us a few years back, and we didn’t have the money for university or studies.
I had to start working double and triple shifts before I even finished junior high, just to help pay the rent and save up for my studies.
When I decided to come here to Italy on my own, at just 19 years old, and went to sign up for the art university.
I wanted to try, no matter the circumstances.

But things didn’t go as I had hoped – my homeschooling diploma wasn’t accepted, and I was robbed on my way home with all my savings.
And with one discouragement after another, I realized it just wasn’t going to happen.

I thought then and there that this was a sign, that maybe I wasn’t meant to be an artist after all.

I cried and abandoned dream… locked it up and threw away the key.
And for over twenty years following, I hardly did any art anymore.

I got a normal job, and did what I could to survive.

It wasn’t until many years later, after depression and desperation, that I finally had the courage to open up that box of dreams and try again.
I had failed before, hit rock bottom.
Now the only way was up.

As I painted my phoenix rising from the ashes in this challenge, I wanted to show that despite failure and discouragement, we can always find the courage – no matter how long it takes – to rise again.
Life can be tough sometimes, but we shouldn’t let that hold us back to becoming the best version of ourselves.
We can emerge from the ashes, stronger and more determined than before.

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