It's not that I don't love my art-I do, I just don't want to be known as "the girl who paints galaxies".
In 2020 I started an ongoing series that I call "Pure Potential"- a collection of galaxies that always look different, have different colors, and are usually shaped differently. They were a testament to what was going on in my life at the time. COVID was picking up and I had decided to quit the job I was at right before they shut down (due to COVID). I quit the job and decided that I wanted to pursue art full time and I felt a vastness that would be kind of hard to explain without rambling. Let's just say I felt very limitless; like there was endless potential for me to mold a career doing something that I actually enjoyed instead of working for someone.
Fast forward to 2024 and here I am, knee deep in an art career. So my blind leap into the abyss of endless potential did in fact pay off in more ways than just an art career. I was blessed to have had things pan out the way that they did!
But also here I am in 2024 looking ay my galaxies feeling like "okay this isn't want I want to be pigeonholed into creating or being known for". Between 2019 and now I have gone through various styles and series of work but I can't get over feeling like my unique marker will be galaxies.
People respond very well to them and I honestly enjoy creating them so why do I not want them to be my unique artist stamp?
I don't want to look at my work and feel like all I had to offer that connected with people was galaxies. It feels too easy, too cliche, too...basic-all things that I want to avoid. I also want to avoid feeling complacent in my work. There's a part of me that feels like accepting being known as the "girl who paints galaxies" overshadow the other types of work that I do.
But in the art world, an artist has to have a "signature", right?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and swing by my website to view some of my work. (The site has all the different types of work that I do. LOL!)
More info: artgirlshay.com
"Vessels of the Cosmos" 2024 duo art show. Here I am in front of "Cosmic Goddess", a self inspired galaxy body portrait.
Here I am after live painting for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Mobile Art Lab at a back to school event for kids at the Yvonne Richardson Center in 2022.
