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.

Games

View all games

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!