That’s a question I’ve been thinking about recently, and I believe that for each individual, the answer might be a little bit different.
Ever since I was a child, I have done some form of art; however, it wasn’t until recently that I decided to label myself an artist. For example, growing up, I would create pictures of dinosaurs and various little characters.
During my teenage years, I started making digital artwork in Photoshop. Here are a few examples of that:
Later in my life, I started picking up photography as a hobby, and even tried rekindling my Photoshop skills for a while:
You can see some more of my recent(ish) photography on these two pages:
Unfortunately, as I got older, I let myself become fully absorbed by work (I’m talking working mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays) and stopped finding much time for my hobbies. Obviously, this way of thinking didn’t turn out well, and eventually I burnt myself out, several times over if I’m being 100% honest.
Fast-forward to 2025. I’d been off work since January, and as part of my journey back to health, my counsellor (if you don’t have a counsellor, I highly recommend it!) suggested that I should try to find new or rekindle old hobbies. Since then, I’ve painted numerous pieces, some good, some bad, some different, some trying too hard to be the same.
One thing that is common across all of them, though, is understanding, growth, and appreciation. Through art, I have developed many fantastic connections with local businesses and artists, and I hope I will continue to do so!
It’s so interesting to me that I have lived in New Westminster since 2003 and never realised just how deep and diverse the art scene is here, but that has definitely changed in 2025.
To get back to the original question of this blog post — What does it mean to be an artist? To me, it’s getting over the feeling of “I’m an outsider looking in” or “I’m not good enough, yet”.
I spent years, decades even, thinking there was going to be a magical day/time where something would click and I’d suddenly be “good enough” or “smart enough”, but it really doesn’t work that way. Being an artist isn’t a destination; it’s a journey, like most things in life, and it’s up to you to decide which journeys you start and where they take you.
So yeah, I think that’s going to be the idea behind this blog… Sharing my experiences with becoming an artist and sharing things I’ve found helpful or interesting along the way. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, feel free to subscribe to my posts. There should be a subscribe button floating in the bottom-right, assuming I set that up properly.
TLDR: I didn’t consider myself an artist for a long time. I was expecting a switch to flip, but you control that switch. I found art as an outlet for my mental health issues, and I now consider myself an artist.
Thanks for reading!
