This is me. Own it because no one else will.

---

Its been approximately 8 years that I have been serious in perfecting my skill.  I have taking countless of in-person and on-line classes, always looking to learn something new and yearning to paint like 'her'.  Well, here we are, 8 years later and I may not be too much closer to the real artistic me.  Or am I?  I may be closer than I think, if would only I own it. 
​There have been 4 artists who have had a major impact on my artistic ability.

The first, my brother Warren Arcila, has been one of the biggest influences in my life.  His use of line, value, and color is superb. Unfortunately, he has also been the cause of my self-doubt, although in all reality, I can't lay the blame at his feet.  He practiced and practiced and I didn't.

The second is Jane Davenport, I learned from her the importance of not being afraid to make mistakes and I credit her with getting me sufficiently excited about art to be serious about it.  ​

The third artist who has inspired my creativity is Donna Downey.  Her use of color and loose style is what I aspired my art to look like. I credit her with learning how to use acrylic paint and not be afraid of it.

The artist who has had one of the greatest impacts on my artistic journey is Tonja Sell.  After looking at her work, you'll understand why there is no need for words.  Her work evoke a powerful emotion in me.    

So what's my problem?  The problem is I am trying to hard to paint like them and not putting in the time needed to develop my style.  After 8 years, I am finally coming full circle.  This past week has been very difficult for me, and I can't really say why.  Just 2 days ago though, after watching yet another video from another artist, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I have been trying too hard to emulate other artists instead of perfecting my style.  I needed to get back to what inspires me, so today I spent some hours reviewing an on-line class from Tonja Sell.  And there it was again, and it couldn't be any clearer.  Tonja's words were:

We live in such a fast-paced culture and it’s easy for that mind set to affect the way we approach our art.  There are some things that simply require time and effort to develop.  To really understand color, to develop a good color sense, you really have to explore it.  You can understand color theory and still not understand color and how to use color to achieve what you want to communicate. So many of us have falling into the trap of wishing that our art work would be like someone else’s, but we don’t remember that they have been perfecting that craft for perhaps 20, 30, 40 years.  Masters only become masters through time and effort. So much of what makes art work great is the things that are only learned through making discoveries on your own. You have to put the time in and explore and learn and grow through those experiences.

So there it is.  The universe has spoken and I am listening.  It's time to stop searching and pay attention to what is in front of me and it's about time.