i want to be an artist when i grow up! [a love story + a little announcement.]

but maaaybe i should’ve given little girl brittany more credit. i wasn’t one of those kids that didn’t know real stuff about life until they were 13. no, i could properly pronounce my R’s, didn’t think for one second that there were monsters under my bed, and i totally knew where babies came out. yes, out. unlike my mom as a child, who apparently thought you just purchased a pink or blue ticket to have a baby. i love that about the child version of my mom, she’s the cutest.

i have always loved art… but i didn’t really start seriously painting until my high school art class. [except, i do remember doing a paint by number once when i was younger and finding it so fascinating that all of the color blobs came together so nicely to form a picture like that!] but once i started, i found myself getting absorbed in it for hours the same way you get lost a book and i loved that. i’d spend extra time in the art room during lunch or take my work home with me after school. and that’s when i realized that painting made me happy.

so, when college rolled around, i decided to major in graphic design. i thought it would incorporate art and design and computer stuff all into one fun ball of what i should do for a living… but a week into it i just knew that it would be a huge mistake for me [just a personal decision, of course]. i ran crying my eyeballs out to my adviser and switched out of that major as soon as i could… but still ended up getting stuck in a drawing class with a scary teacher lady that did not seem to like me very much.

this teacher, she was kind of a meaniehead… and it wasn’t long at all before that class started to absolutely ruin art for me. i didn’t want someone criticizing something that i put my heart into just because of rules and technique and well, mostly her own opinion. i mean, technique is important, but you know, you can at least be nice about it. i even looked her dead in the eye one time and said “you are really scaring me right now!” let me just say, this woman collected and photographed roadkill as a hobby. yeah. yeah. see? ugh. i still get the willies when i picture her and the way she’d swirl her hands in front of our drawings and say, “i don’t reeeeally know what’s going on right heeeeere.”

so, for a while, as far as art went, i really only did what i was required to do that semester for my drawing class… and most of that i did a crappy job on because it wasn’t really worth it to care. plus… it was college. not much time to sit alone and paint or whatev. [you know, unless that’s your major.] but then, one day when we were out to lunch, steven saw a painting of a tiger and asked me if i would maybe paint a tiger for him. i said no. and for a while, he continued to ask me. aaand i continued to say no. and then i think he let it go. but once we headed home for the following summer break, i kind of started to get back to my old artsy self again! and before i knew it one evening i was painting away… and when i was finished, i had a tiger staring at me. i gave it to steven for his birthday that year. i think he liked it.

after that, i kept on painting here and there, but only when i was at home, never at college. it was kind of a private escape for me, where i could let go of the need for perfectionism [or try, at least] and just get lost in my artsy paint world. not many people even knew that i painted. i guess most people didn’t, which is weird because i’m not generally a very private person… but it made me uncomfortable to show such a vulnerable side of myself. it still does, but i’m trying to get over that.

then, when steven and i got married and moved home, i started painting a whole lot. i was so thrilled to be married and back in nashville, but i guess between obsessive house cleaning [i went a little bit cleaning-crazy], school [was still finishing college] and work [i worked part-time for a year & a half at my father-in-law’s company] i just needed an escape that was completely, entirely my own. i would often show up to work half awake with paint all over my hands from spending all night painting instead of sleeping. i didn’t sleep much then.

in the past couple of years, i’ve had more and more time to paint. yaaaaay! i’ve even gotten to paint a little bit for other people [instead of just adding to the existing stack in my own house] and received a lot of encouragement and support in return… which i totally don’t deserve, but i’ll definitely take it!

so, as it turns out, little girl brittany was right. art is probably the only thing i’ve ever known 100% that i want to do, despite whatever else i may be doing… and at this point in my life i feel so blessed to be able to prioritize it and to have such an amazing husband that has supported it all along. i don’t take one dot of it for granted… and i’m so thankful for the people that have pushed me to do more, including my happy little art shop!

so, to conclude this little story time… i am delighted to announce that i’m going to be setting up my first ever little booth of paintings at rumour’s east in east nashville this sunday from 2-6 at their wine, chocolate & shopping event! i. am. so. excited! it’s going to be so much fun, so if you’re in nashville, you should come by and visit, have some wine and chocolate and maybe even buy some christmas gifts! it should be a lovely time…