It's Okay To Change
By. Dulcinea Moran
This painting is a symbol of courage in the face of immense personal change and growth.
What attempts to take power away from me as a creative is something that has constantly been shoved down my throat throughout all my years of art academia, and beyond in to my experience in the professional fine arts world. This expectation has always been to find one type of work that I am good at making, and to stick to that. Professors in art school telling me to make my work more cohesive. Galleries constantly forcing this idea of being one type of artist with their painter, designer, sculptor, illustrator, photographer check-boxes in application forms. This model always seemed problematic to me: to only be allowed to create in one way is in direct opposition of what it means to be an artist. Artists are explorers, feelers, investigators, researchers, risk-takers, scientists, and most importantly, genuine storytellers. How could one earnestly tell their true story through art if they aren’t even allowing their story to expand in new directions?
People like to put people in boxes. There is comfort to be had in knowing. People are afraid of change, and they will project their own fear on to everyone else around them, especially as those around them are threatening the norm by allowing their own shift to occur.
I suddenly began to change, rapidly. My old way of painting quickly became foreign to me. Self-doubt, a result of this stifling recipe for becoming a successful artist, began to creep in. Through months of private experimentation in my studio, I finally allowed myself to explore different techniques and subject matter. I had been constantly dreaming of plants I had seen in the desert two years prior, and I knew that deep down, this is what I wanted to paint now. Enough with what others will think: it was time to restore power within myself as a creative. So, I started obsessively painting and drawing abstracted plant matter. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know what I was running towards, but all I knew is it was far away from where I started. The more I painted these plants, the more relief I felt as I was returning back home to my new self.
What gives me power as an artist, a Jewish-American woman, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a person? To give myself permission to authentically evolve. To allow myself to outgrow old ways of being and to make whatever I want, however I want. To welcome the throes of change with open arms, and to let them take me. To cultivate the courage within myself to lovingly choose the most authentic version of myself, over and over again, each and every day.
Dulcinea boldly blends abstract and classic styles of painting, creating images deeply rooted in the dynamic and incendiary emotion of color. She is an avid yoga practitioner and her resting heart rate is positivity. Both grounded and a beacon, her art represents the vibrant authenticity she carries with her every day. Website: www.dulcineamoran.com
Curriculum Vitae: https://www.dulcineamoran.com/pagecv
Instagram handle: dulcinea.moran.art
Email: dulcinea.moran.art@gmail.com