As many friends know, I am interested in both writing and art, and in fact I began an “art+writing” facebook page in 2013. My journey in art probably began in high school, when I took art classes and “hung out” with other artists, not knowing at the time that I was an artist, too. It took me almost a lifetime to give myself permission to make ‘real’ art and to acknowledge my own artistic abilities.
In May 2022 I had the opportunity to speak about my art-journey in an interview, HERE.
Since 2020 I’ve been taking more art courses and stocking up on more art supplies (I always had art supplies, but rarely used them). I began creating art on paper, canvas and wood panels. I’ve been working in acrylic inks, fluid acrylics, heavy bodied acrylics, gouache, charcoal, colored pencil, and various types of pastels (oil, neo, and soft); and I’ve made collages on various substrates.
Whenever I begin a project (of any kind), I tend to become ‘stuck-in’ and mildly obsessed, until I’m satisfied with the results (which is usually never). I give it my best until I reach a good stopping point. Then I take a step back, review, assess, and begin again.
Since reinventing myself as “an artist” (and not only a writer) I’ve been trying to incorporate my art and writing all in one place (here), but the art has been taking over (at least for a while) and so I have decided to create a new website for art only, and will leave this site as is with the main focus on my writing.
Please take a look, and follow Carla M Wilson Art if you are so inclined!
In my recent review, I’ve also found a list of other links where an archive of my earlier art and writing can be found. By the way, I highly recommend going back and taking a look at some of your older work, as it can provide enlightenment as to the path or journey you are now on! For example, in looking at some of my older work, I see that I’ve always incorporated some kind of imagery with my short texts, and in some cases, I included my own digital drawings with my poetry.
I also noted that, early on, I was fond of GRIDS and micro-poems. Who knew? This has been a consistent theme since at least 2011, when I began on Blogger” with my various journal-ish blogs. Blogs like “Stones and Sky” and “Urban Sun” both incorporated grids of daily blog posts with either mini-texts, micro-fictions, and other personal photos and art.
I encourage all new (and seasoned!) artists and writers to keep looking back on your old work, keep lists of all your old links, images, and submissions. Time moves so quickly and in the blink of an eye you’ll find you have long lists of work behind you that may have been forgotten, but might be worth taking another look at.
There now, you have a lot of work to do. As for me, it’s time to begin again!
Carla M Wilson 