Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gretchen Velarde . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Gretchen , 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?
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you when you are working.” This phrase by Pablo Picasso is something I think about often when working. Creativity and inspiration to me come hand in hand, one seems to fuel the other. But what happens when you are at a loss for either one? I guess creativity ruts are common in my profession, the important thing is what we can do to overcome the challenge.
What I do to keep my creativity alive is to try to work with as many other artists as I can. I go to their studios and workshops and sometimes just watch them as they do their thing. I find it renews my inspiration and gets my creative juices flowing every time. I also love going to different museums and exhibitions, trying to imagine what I would have done in that space or with those materials. The other thing I do on a regular basis is going back to when I was young. Playing with materials that remind me of that age, sitting on the ground with no limits as to what I can do, and just enjoying whatever the results are.
I think feeding my creativity is one of the main reasons why I love working with different techniques. I guess it lets me rest my mind from one thing and go completely into another.
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 am a visual artist, this basically means that I paint, print and sculpt and try on different techniques related to art. I have had the great honor of having my work exhibited and sold in different countries throughout the world. I love thinking that I can contribute with my art to an aesthetic movement that promotes hope.
Today I would like to focus a little bit more on my career in the USA. I have some projects here that have a more profound meaning as to what we artists can do for others and what the meaning of my life and art can and should be.
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 think in arts you have to really get to know the materials you are working with. There are very basic ways of making sure your work will last a long time, but most of the time this skill will come with experience as well. I think this is the most basic thing you need to learn to become an artist.
I am mainly an abstract painter, this means that you will rarely find figures you can distinguish in my art. This makes it important for me to talk about color palette and composition which are another basic area of knowledge that I would think are important to master.
The most important of the qualities that I think you need to perfect if you want to pursue a career in arts is humbleness. Not everybody is going to like what you do and people are very honest most of the time. I think you have to realize that this has nothing to do with you or who you are.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for people to collaborate with. I love working with other visual artists, as I mentioned before, but I have also done collaborations with all kinds of people. I have worked hand in hand with poets, which I love. I have painted and engraved different kinds of products, such as liquor bottles, boxes, clothes. I have also painted walls for businesses, and made prints for them to give away as gifts and other things. I love working with others in general. If you are looking for an artist to work with, or would like to give it a try, contact me, there are a million things we could do together to boost your career or business as well as mine.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gvelarde_arte
