I Paint. I Make Art. I Am an Artist.

Happy International Artist Day. Today seems like a good day to admit something: it took me years to say "I am an artist" without mumbling it or adding a little laugh at the end.

I think for most of us it happens in three steps. I paint. I make art. I am an artist. They sound like the same sentence. They are not.

I paint

"I paint" is safe. It's a hobby. It's something you do on a Sunday with a glass of wine and nobody expects anything from it, including you.

For 25 years I had a corporate career and painting was the thing I did on the side when time permitted which was admittedly almost never. If someone asked, I said "oh, I paint a little." The "a little" did a lot of heavy lifting. It meant please don't ask to see it and please don't judge it.

I make art

"I make art" is the middle step, and honestly I stayed there a while. It's when you start taking it seriously but you're still keeping one foot out the door.

For me it was when I left my job at 46 and moved to Bocas del Toro to paint full time. At 49 I finally found my footing and I was painting every day. Bold black lines, neon colors, a lot of cyclops and a lot of food. I was selling prints. And I still said "I make art" because it described the activity, not me. If it didn't work out, I could just stop doing the activity.

I am an artist

"I am an artist" is different because it's about who you are, not what you did today. Nobody hands you a certificate for it. There's no number of sales or followers where it becomes official. I checked.
What finally got me there was getting tired of shrinking it. Someone at a dinner asked what I do and I heard myself start with "oh, I paint a little" and I just stopped and said "I'm an artist." Nothing bad happened. They asked to see my work. That was it.

A few things that helped me get there:
Stop adding "a little," "just," or "kind of" in front of it
Show your work before you think it's ready
Call your studio a studio, even if it's a corner of the porch
Notice that the people you admire most never waited for permission either

Say it out loud

If you're somewhere between "I paint" and "I am an artist," that's normal. It's a process and it doesn't run on anyone else's schedule. Mine took until I was almost 50.

So here's my International Artist Day ask. Say it once today, out loud, to someone. Your partner, your neighbor, the guy at the hardware store. "I'm an artist."

Jennifer
CasaSantosha.Art