For the Kids at Home
While back in my hometown, I’ve been doing some babysitting. One of the kids I’ve looked after is the four-year-old daughter of someone my Mum knows. My Mum has taught basically half the town and is friends with the rest. For the sake of anonymity, let’s call this kid “Jasmine”. Jasmine is a great artist, with one of the more impressive playrooms I have ever seen. She has every art and craft supply a kid could wish for, and she makes great use of it all. I told her that I’m an artist and looked up from her half-finished painting, twirling her ponytail with her fingers and said “I already knew that!”
My Mum had told her that I’m an artist and that we could do some drawing and painting together. Still, It was a special moment, seeing the look of hope on a baby artist’s face when we spoke of me, a grown up, being an artist.
When I was that age, I was lucky to have a few great mentors in this small town. One of them was Rachael Flynn, the creator of Red Tractor Designs. My brother and her son were best friends and I often found myself sketching while watching their endless games of cricket. I’d sit there every Saturday (and often Sunday, too) in the dry heat of the country summer, drawing to pass the time and feeling very proud of myself whenever Rachi would compliment my work. I still have the clearest memory of visiting their farm and having her show me her studio. I had no idea that people in Mudgee could have art studios. She, alongside a handful of other beautiful mentors, showed me that I could be an artist. It was possible.
It’s important to me now, that I can be that person for the next generation. Sure, I’m honest about my artistic journey- it definitely hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows, but it is still (in my very biased opinion) the best job in the world.
As a 23 year old artist, I now have the privilege of working alongside some of my old mentors and having professional relationships with the “grown ups” I have always looked up to. It has made me respect every one of them even more. They are just as clever and skilled and creative as I always thought they were.
When I talk about my career, I think it’s equally important to show both sides of the story; the intricate works created and sold and exhibited on beautiful, white walls, and the rejections, the doubt and the ongoing disappointment. I will never be ashamed to say that it’s not an easy path- it’s not even a fair one. It is, however, a path that brings joy and mindfulness that I am yet to discover anywhere else.
I sit outside, smelling turps and oil paint and petrichor, painting whatever I want, thinking only of my next brushstroke and nothing else really matters. If I can inspire one kid to grow up and enjoy that as much as I do, I’ll be stoked.
xx Rose
