Grow Wherever You Are: Create With What You Have

As artists, we all have some version of the dream.

The big, wide-open studio. White walls. An abundance of natural light. Being a full-time artist with all eyes on our work and galleries knocking at the studio door.

We look at other artists and sometimes wish we had what they have. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the best for yourself and your practice. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming about high demand for your work. If that vision gets you motivated, use it.

But in the middle of dreaming about everything you could have, don’t forget to look up and see what’s already right in front of you.

You might have more than you think.

Grow Wherever You Are

I started The Flowerboyy in 2016, fresh out of county jail. I had ambition and a fear that I would never get a “real” job because of my past mistakes.

That’s where my motto, “Grow Wherever You Are,” came from.

It means pursuing growth with the resources you have available. Not waiting until you have everything you think you need. When you start working with what’s already there, you realize you have enough to get started and begin making the impact you want to make.

I understood that in the beginning. But somewhere along the way, I lost touch with what it really meant to me.

My work started connecting with people. I started seeing success in the business. And I wanted more because I thought more would make me bigger and better.

The studio I thought I needed

I went from painting in my apartment to turning my workplace into a studio after hours. Yes, I got a real job.

Eventually, I got my own studio in Downtown LA.

It was amazing. I had room to create, hang out, nap, make a mess, have studio visits, photograph my work, and make social and promotional videos. It was a great business tool.

But business tools come with a cost.

The studio was expensive. My car would get broken into in DTLA. And I had to travel there, which made working super late or starting super early harder to sustain over time.

I’m not complaining about that experience. I learned a lot, and that space served a purpose. But after it all, I came back to something I had known from the beginning: I built my entire practice by using what I had readily available to create.

I’ve always wanted to be able to create anywhere, anytime. Somewhere along the way, I started treating a particular space like it was the thing that made that possible.

What creating looks like now

A lot has changed over the years. I now own a home with a garage that I used as a studio. Then my wife and I rented out our home, and that garage became art storage. It’s where I pick up materials and drop off completed work.

We now live in a fifth-wheel trailer on a decent amount of acreage. And this is where “Grow Wherever You Are” takes over again.

I don’t have room inside the trailer to paint big paintings. But I have plenty of room outside to set up my easel. My industrial printer is in an outdoor compartment. My supplies live on top of a bunk bed or underneath the bottom bunk in our second room.

It’s not the white-wall studio dream. But the work is getting made.

This isn’t a story about how far I’ve come. It’s a story about how I challenged my own belief that having more would make me a better artist.

For me, less has been better. Having less to work with, and more challenges to work through, makes me more intentional about the process, the execution, and the quality of the work.

I have to really earn the work being made. And there’s something about that effort that brings me closer to it.

You don’t have to wait

You don’t need to do what I do or take the long route I took to learn this.

You can paint in your room at your parents’ house. You can photograph your work with your iPhone. You can look for opportunities to show it in parks, coffee shops, street fairs, and other places where people can see it.

You can start a website using a free option. You can tell everyone you know that you’re an artist and show them what you make.

These aren’t things you have to dismiss as small just because they don’t look like the dream yet. They’re real ways to build a practice, connect with people, and get your work out into the world.

I believe those direct connections can be just as powerful, sometimes more powerful, than a huge studio, gallery representation, or having someone else talk about your work for you.

None of this means you have to do everything alone. Everyone needs a little help. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Where you can, outsource the things you’re not so good at so you can give more of yourself to the work.

Want the studio. Dream about the gallery. Work toward being a full-time artist if that’s what you want.

Just don’t let not having those things get in the way of creating what you’re called to create right now.

Use what you have and grow wherever you are.

You got this.

-Von