How Do I Describe Success?
Nancee Jean Busse: What a beautiful, thorny, complex question! And man, has that ever changed with time! I was an illustrator and single mom, so success was about art in exchange for money; purely transactional. It had to do with the number of illustrations I could crank out and how much I was paid for them. I was keeping the roof over our heads after all. This transactional sensibility stalked me like a specter into my fine art. Sales, galleries, competitions, shows, recognition, bla-bla-bla… ugh. I unwittingly did everything I could to separate myself from ever really knowing who I was as an Artist. I never stopped trying to please the client. But at least, when I was illustrating, I knew who the client was.
Exhausted and totally willing to get over myself, I stopped. Stopped and stared at my easel for a year. Opened up paint tubes to see if they were drying out. Muttered. Eventually I picked up a brush and stepped up to a blank canvas. For me, that ballsy maneuver has been my greatest success. My art is now truly true to me. My (he)art sings in this sweet journey of self-discovery.
To see more of Nancee’s work, visit:
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