Chasing My Muse
As some of my social media followers know, I've been going through a mid-art-career crisis for a few years now. In 2017, I was feeling pretty stuck with where my art was and not really inspired to keep making the same kind of work that I was making, but it was successful and paid the bills.
At that time, new ideas began pouring out of me into my sketchbooks in a way that is hard to explain. I could fill up 100 pages with these designs and drawings, effortlessly. Page after page, it would just flow out, it was one of the most inspirational experiences in my life as an artist. But this stuff was so different from the waves and landscapes and animals I'd been doing for so long. It was an abrupt shift to these modern, abstract, primitive forms, shapes and patterns. I eventually decided to create an entirely different brand around this line of work called Abstract Pursuits. It became a place to be free and explore and I didn't really care if it made money or not since I was still creating my other popular work.
In time, Abstract Pursuits became stifling as well. I had pigeon-holed myself, and my work, once again. It was exhausting trying to be two artists at once. So, in December 2024, I decided it was time to embrace the fact that I am one artist with wide-ranging styles and inspirations. Sometimes I want clean, planned out lines and shapes, sometimes I want to wing it & be messy & fast & loose. Sometimes I want to turn on a dime & go off on some random tangent inspired by a doodle in my sketchbook & build something out of wood or draw some silly cartoon character or animation.
Learning to follow the path that brings me the most creative energy is my art goal moving forward. Doing a variety of types of art is what gives me this energy. I have been hiding or subduing these other creative urges because they didn’t fit within my “style” that I was falsely led to believe I needed to cultivate in order to be a successful artist. “Successful artist” is a loaded phrase. Its meaning to me has shifted over the last year. Being free to chase the muse, is being successful.
I’m merging Abstract Pursuits with Abel Arts & am going to now be posting ALL my work here on Abelarts.com and my @abelarts Instagram. I've made a portfolio gallery of Abstract Pursuits work HERE. This all may become messy but it will be real. Art is messy. Life & people are messy. Trying to portray it as anything else is a lie. It’s time to rage against the capitalist consumer machine that tries to pigeon-hole artists into creating the same ol’ stuff over & over again because it’s in their recognizable style and it sells. No artist wants to keep making the same art they’ve been making for 10 or 20 years. An artists work should change & grow, just like we all do as humans. Changing can be really hard to do when the art has been making money & supporting a life & a family. Sometimes you just have to have the faith that chasing your true muse & being your authentic self will still attract those who want to collect & support the work you are creating.
Thanks for following along and supporting me on my creative journey!
✌️ Abel