Artsy Fartsy by Artist, Carol Iyer: How My Art Career Started

So I wanted to put this down into words... to be cliche, a detail of my art journey and eventually (in a following post), what I've learned from the past 15 years of trying to be a semi-successful artist.

First of all, a quick summary of how I got into art. I was working for a software company in the Atlanta area in marketing, freshly divorced, in a relationship with my boss, just bought a small house, had joint custody of my two daughters (5 and 7), and was in a pretty emotional place. I was 35 years old. I started to have dreams that I was painting a stained glass window. It was a gorgeous royal blue and was made of square pieces of glass with intermixed shades of blue and white. I had the dream a few times and always woke up with a feeling of comfort.

My birthday arrived and my mom gifted me $50. I decided to spend the money on a small set of paints, brushes and canvas panels. I didn't know what to paint, so I decided to paint a photo of my greyhound, which I had recently adopted from a rescue organization:

As you can see, I would NOT say that I have natural talent. But the experience was so nice. It probably took me a couple of hours and it felt like minutes when I was finished. I was so much in the present moment and not "in my head." It quickly became an essential escape for me. I started to experiment and paint different subjects after work and on weekends. I painted all of my friend's dogs. I started to get a little better with practice and here are a few more from that first year:

From there, I started to list them for auction on eBay. I'm talking like $35 - $50 (if I was lucky). This was still pre-recession, so I did pretty well. I started to get commissions for pet portraits and I filled my evenings and weekends painting pets from 2004 - 2006. Then the recession hit. I was no longer employed. I had married my boss in 2004 and he sold his company just as the market was crashing and so I was suddenly a stay-at-home mom and artist. This was a big adjustment for me and I found that I had to be in a certain "mood" to paint, and at the time I was painting pet portraits. I experimented with painting other subjects from time to time, but largely I was focused on painting pets for other people. I was on the news painting the anchor's dog, I was invited to Daytona for a museum show, I showed my art at University of Mississippi vet school event, my art was on a few magazine covers and then luxury spending stopped. Here are some paintings from that period:

(See, practice is essential!!)

From 2007-2011, I painted only when I felt inspired. Which wasn't very much. Since I'd had no formal training and had only been painting pets (I felt I had somewhat mastered that), I became bored with it. This wasn't feeding my creative needs. It was just technical. I turned away commissions because they just made me cringe. I had also developed a pretty nasty case of endometriosis and I was in a lot of pain (which my doctors disregarded). Finally I was able to get exploratory surgery in 2009 and came home without my uterus, cervix and an ovary. I had been bleeding backwards into myself (don't ask me how) and my entire abdomen was filled with blood and endometriosis cells that were scarring and binding my organs. (Hey doc, now do you believe me that I was in pain? LOL) That was followed by an episode of depression in 2010 and then we moved to a nearby city in 2011 to "start fresh" and to get my youngest daughter into a better high school.

So up to this time, my art training was self-inflicted and only consisted of copying what I saw in photos. When I painted pet portraits I would project the image onto the canvas and sketch that way. I didn't have any drawing capabilities and didn't practice drawing at all. I did, however, get good at painting what I saw and I became more and more detailed ("tight") in my painting because I wanted to become as realistic as possible. Then, suddenly, I wanted to not be so realistic, but I didn't know how. I wanted to be creative, but painting in this way just started to feel yucky to me.

So from 2012-2014 I stumbled upon Zentangling and began doodling insessantly. I filled multiple journals with doodles and mandalas. I also started to collage. This was a refreshing and creative time for me. (I was also laid up with a herniated disc for a good 3-4 months.) I occassionally painted pet portraits (to fund my art supply addiction), but really took to the doodling.

Then, in 2014, I discovered an artist (on Pinterest) that changed the way I approached art and it changed my world!! Her name is Flora Bowley and she had an online class about how to paint intuitively. I just loved her art -- it was like nothing I have ever seen before. It was so unique and now I know why-- it's so AUTHENTIC. It was truly her expression coming out onto canvas. I was so intrigued and so I signed up immediately! Then, right before it started, I broke my right wrist (I'm right-handed)! I had slipped on a patch of ice during the big ice storm in Atlanta. I was being stupid and had been drinking with neighbors. I was encouraged to do the course anyway with my left hand, so I did. Here are my left-handed paintings:

Quite different, right?! So this became my favorite way to paint. I did so from 2014 - 2018. My painting discipline still wasn't great -- I only painted when I was truly "in the headspace" to do so. Conditions had to be perfect and I didn't want to be disturbed. I needed a large window of time to get into the flow. I also worked as a magazine editor for 2 years, which took me away from my studio.

In 2018 we moved to Florida. I had a dedicated art studio in my new home and started to spend more and more time experimenting and taking different courses online. Heading into menopause and having moved to another state, I didn't have many friends and really didn't feel like putting myself out there. I became more introverted and happy with just being with myself. During this time I've learned a lot about myself and how to be happy living a creative life. I've discovered that I have a few different styles and really am enjoying this whimsical style that is coming out of me lately. The pressure of "what am I going to paint" is gone with the knowledge of how to paint intuitively. I've also started painting on a smaller scale with a lower price point. This has increased my margins and helped with exposure in this ever-increasingly saturated online art market. Also, I've been using wood, collage, gelli printing and incorporating my love of doodling.

It's now the end of 2019. Tomorrow is January 1, 2020. Over the past year I have been collaborating with another artist to open an art center in the my area. Things weren't feeling right and so I backed out. I knew in my heart that there was another path for me. Then I stumbled upon a space that when I saw it, I just knew it was destined for me. So this coming Friday is the day I open my tiny 350 sq ft art cottage in south Jacksonville, Florida. It will be my studio, gallery and a place that I can teach others how to find the joy in living a creative life. I have also signed up for a year long mastery program with the Milan Institute of Art. I hope to fill in the spaces with some real formal art training. I'm so looking forward to what the next decade brings!!
Here are few photos of recent work and my cute studio, which is located in Bayard Antique Village at 12561 Philips Hwy (US 1). Come visit me!!