God Built Me A Studio - A Testimony

2024 was a year, let me tell you. Ask anyone in my vicinity, they'd tell you my biggest gripe having left art school was my lack of access to a studio. A dedicated space to making art is imperative to a creative's practice. Despite having an old drafting desk in room for many years, I was called to create in a way that I could only do in Chicago until recently: paint. 

When 2022 ended in hastily leaving Chicago to escape a tragic living situation and relationship, I left behind my belongings and everything that served me as a means to create physical art; my oil paint, my brushes, my mediums, my will to make art. Even finished paintings that I had done in Chicago had been lost or destroyed. Returning to San Antonio essentially pigeonholed me into being a digital illustrator, and before long I had slipped into a depression that grabbed hold of me every way possible. How could I let this happen, I thought. I'd lost all passion for creation, and had no way to return to school as I had depleted my savings trying to keep afloat in Chicago. My life felt derailed, I took my problems to the only One who I knew would truly hear me, and from that point onwards I spent a lot of my time praying, drawing closer to my faith.

Fast forward to 2023 when someone close to me came requesting that I make a portrait for a music artist he had been seeing. The Lord led me to use this as an opportunity to get my hands on new materials, so I bartered acrylic paint and painting materials in exchange for a piece of art. And so I'd begun working on it, propping up the massive canvas against a wall, and working on the floor. Some weeks in, a group of internet friends and I raised money to support a vision of a shared passion project. The money was split between us, yet I decided to hold off on touching my share as an incentive to finish the project. A good friend of mine who also worked on the project spoke with me, insisting that the money be used to fund building my at-home studio. With it, he ordered a new chair for me to work in, a professional standard artist's tablet, and massive H frame easel ( which I was so overconfident that I could put together in under an hour...it took me ten.) I used some pocket change from illustrating children's books to buy a utility cart, and before I knew it, I had a studio in my bedroom tailored to my liking. 

I share this to encourage my fellow Christian artists who fall into creative slumps, or don't have the means to do what you're called to yet. God has not forgotten you. Take times like these to draw nearer to Him.