Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to JD Logan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
JD, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
I like to believe creativity is alive and flowing inside everyone at all times. It’s always trying to express itself. It’s more a matter of do we give ourselves permission to let it manifest itself in some way? Or do we keep it under wraps for whatever reasons or fears we may have? Or do we let it out but keep it on a short leash because we worry what others would think? The answer is different for everybody and nobody’s wrong. For me it always seemed natural to seek some kind outlet for my desire to be creative.
I had no interest in painting in my younger days but pursued music until my early 30’s. I played lead guitar in a hair band in the 80’s, performing on the Philadelphia / NJ club circuit.
This was where my desire to have a creative life first met with real life experiences. Countless hours of learning an instrument, forming a band, writing music, promoting before the internet, performing at night while working in a factory full time by day, all fueled by a desire to express myself.
In my 30’s I attended The Culinary Institute of America and began a decade of working as a chef. While it never became the creative outlet I thought it would be I learned a lot about myself, what I wanted, what I didn’t want.
I started painting in my late thirties and I’m still at it.
I like to think creativity is always there, always alive. Just let it do it’s thing and don’t get in the way.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I create bold abstracts using acrylics and mixed media on both canvas and wood panels. To me the sections of each piece somehow represent chapters in a book, acts in a play, parts of our personalities or phases of our lives. Each one can look and feel very different but they are linked and together they tell a unique story.
I find working in abstracts to be both liberating and therapeutic. I begin each piece with a notion of where I want to go, but once the first paint is applied it starts a kind of back and forth conversation between myself and the painting. My hope is that the finished piece somehow captures and shares the energy, emotions and life experiences that created it. I’m not always sure exactly what I’m saying with these pieces. I just know that it always feels good to have gotten it off my chest!
I’m consistently working on self promotion thru Instagram and email campaigns. I actually enjoy creating reels for my Instagram account to promote new pieces. It’s really another way to express yourself.
I’m always seeking solid gallery relationships but also keep my work in the public eye through numerous restaurant and cafe exhibits. These can be great ways to keep eyes on your work and also sometimes sell pieces or help initiate a commission.
This summer I will be doing my first art residency, 2 weeks secluded on the Maine coast. I’m excited to see what that new experience brings to my work.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I like to think in terms of mindsets as opposed to specific qualities or skills. As a painter I would say it’s very important to really promote yourself. I developed this mindset during my days of playing live music so when I saw there was a market for my earliest pieces of art it was natural for me to start promoting myself right away. These were still essentially pre internet days. I got myself featured in local and national magazines and on local TV news stations. It really accelerated how quickly my audience grew. So don’t wait for people to find you. Don’t just look for opportunities to get exposure, create them.
Try to always have exhibits and shows or open studio events lined up. Don’t over schedule yourself to the point where you’re painting under pressure but you want to make sure that you are always creating. That’s when you make the bigger strides in your work, when you’re producing steadily.
As much as you can, don’t worry about rejection from shows or galleries or, most of all, periods of slow sales. If you feel good about what you’re creating then rejections don’t matter. If you don’t feel good about what you are painting, ask yourself why.
There are going to be days where it is completely up to you to trust yourself and what you’re doing and to keep going. Just keep making work that excites you and then share it.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I would say it’s been the ability to trust my creative instincts and the creative process a lot more than before. I spent the first 24 years of my painting career doing surreal landscapes. I used to sketch and plan a lot and the paintings had a fair amount of fine detail. I was generally overthinking everything much more than I wanted to. While theres nothing wrong with sketching and planning, I realized that for me the paintings were starting to feel like tasks. Just over a year ago I made the decision to begin creating Abstracts and it has been very liberating. So it was really about being able to recognize that something didn’t feel right about the work I was doing anymore. And then it was about realizing if I wanted to change directions the only thing stopping me was me. After that it was really an easy decision to make even though people were still interested in my landscapes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jdlogan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdloganfineart/
