Back in 2009, it was just 1 year after I had returned from my exciting American work-life, as a US resident - contractor worker in the Design, Animation and IT Industry.
I returned to Dubai where I had already spent more than 7 years of my life as an Expat away from home. This is when I started out with another adrenaline-boost into oblivion (should I say ;o)? ), to take my fine arts career to another level.
Again, rewinding my thoughts still further behind to the past, it was at least 1991 when I had my first art show where I showcased my todays most beloved piece called the “Bear Family” an oil painting on canvas one of my first few oil painted pieces made using the steadfast nature of Indian pigments. (the painting attached here).
This, my beauty followed me to my middle-eastern residence nearly 20 years later. The Limited edition prints of this has since been sold several times and also is an amazon-published piece just this Mother’s day.
The reason I left the States was a peculiar one that dropped jaws from many who like me dreamt of one day making it to the land of opportunities that is USA.
But it was like a sour-grapes-story for me. For, finally when I got hold of the grapes it was much too sour for comfort, metaphorically speaking. Although I was intrigued with the familiarity of locations I saw just through Hollywood films in my growing years I realized it was no fiction, the drama was just as real as it was shown in those movies. Whereas I still wanted a non-commercial setting that was not America for me. I did not want to get sucked into dealing with a whole new lifestyle and mindsets of folks co-existing in very different ways inter-racially that was not so comfortable for me. I needed a more formal setting and a system with less intervention of my personal life. I felt as an artist I will not find it in USA, so back I came.
On my return, I was pleasantly surprised that my fine arts was still in vogue and was trendy and not a saturated profession like I found in the USA where I felt more minuscule than a spec of dust. I felt I was not ready to take on any cut-throat competition yet and was not willing to allow my traditional art to be commodified…a tendency technology is trying its hardest to make it but oh no u can’t replace the traditionalist artist!? :o)
So realizing even stronger that it’s not the time to abandon my traditional skills that I got raised and encouraged with, I continued sharpening my skills and keeping my techniques current while I was making a living out of my technology-driven animation, illustration, digital art, etc etc staying well aware of its depleting business. But do not despair when tech-related jobs thin out, “we humans are creatures of habit, so as we practice and try to keep up with technology ” we work more efficiently with practise like Seth Godin indicates in his new book about the good things coming out of regular Practise without focus on the perfection, but just keep doing it. So we do our needed duties like brushing our teeth in the morning not having to spend a lot of time wondering how we would complete the task. In fact, most of my animation work days are spent with me listening to educational podcasts or the likes while I work. I am not having to focus on how to do it anymore as it comes to me as auto-driven. I feel so lucky I didn’t have to do a marketing or accounting or teaching job that couldn’t have been this easy.
So while I went about the enjoyable rat-race because that was bringing in the income to live, I grew my clientele and become known as a fine arts authority in the contemporary art business. Today it has grown with the baby-steps I took over the past 12 years and may I say it is quite satisfying to see the best of both worlds converging into a grand finale when only on the 10 May 2021, I decided to take the plunge and go fully online with my marketing and business operations or the newest best word “remote virtual working”.
Hence in our current post-covid vaccine era and with the fear of the 4th wave of covid and people running helter-skelter for cover from the impending gloom of new variants and lockdowns all over the globe, there is some order in such a chaos for some of us to sustain and be able to help folks around in need too hopefully.
With the launch or highlight of my multiple blogs, book publications, authoring and marketplaces, I am pleasantly overwhelmed what a Pandora’s box has opened upon us through social media. We only need more than 24 hours a day to be able to use it fully. There is too much to offer and we just can’t keep up with it humanly. good gosh!
This online world of such work needs no passport-screening, no question of racial discrimination, nor ageism or educational preferences….all forms of meritocracy has gone straight into the dumpster.
All I see are people co-mingling with each other and exchanging a world of experiences, with spontaneous modern thinking. Where each one of us have a great win, that works perfectly with the right attitude.
Art just sells and nobody cares who and where it comes from and who can or cannot own it. If it looks good to the buyer, that is all that matters.
I am so pleased to present here on “medium”, this article as my first one as a sound message to all my fellow artists that it is the time for success for all of us now.
There is got to be 1 person or 2 or a handful of them among the almost 8 billion of the world population who would definitely be a fan of your art and writings who would want to own a part of your work.
So stay put, stay encouraged in our new found virtual world of possibilities!
:o)
