Why I paint in 2022

It all started with a yearning,

a yearning to know myself better,

to really understand

what I wanted to do with my life.

This had come right after

achieving something

I had been working on for many years before: financial independence.

For me that's where everything begins

in order to write our own rules,

and invest in ourselves

before anyone else will.

So I had gotten to that point,

and the thing that became obvious to me was that throughout my journey

working in the corporate world

and "following the template,"

so to speak,

I came back, again and again,

to my art

as a way to express and release,

the things I was living,

the things I was struggling with,

the things I was celebrating,

and what I was feeling in general.

And in that action

of expressing myself,

of releasing everything that's within,

through brushstrokes,

through color,

and through body movements...

I found flow,

I found peace,

I found healing.

That's when the question became:

"If I'm able to perform well

within an imposed path

what would it look like

if I invested the same energy, or more,

in something that keeps tugging at me,

tugging at my heart,

and which has a positive influence in my life?"

The answer came back as:

"Why not try?"

Fast forward four years,

and I live in New York,

surrounded with my work,

both physically and mentally.

I am always thinking

about creating,

about visual arts,

about expressing my existence.

So if you ask me why I paint in 2022,

I paint because

I don't know what else to do,

that's the only constant.

Regardless of the ups and downs,

the surprises along the way,

the reality checks...

the one thing that I know I can control,

and the one thing that I know for certain is

that I need to keep making work.

At the end of the day it comes back to that:

the art.

The art needs to stand on its own.

I've always believed this.

There are times that I am more prolific

than others,

and times in which my creative direction seems more linear

than others,

and there are also times when my doubts and fears creep in,

or the exhaustion,

but the one thing that I can do is

to show up and paint.

I come back to the work.

My vision stands,

I want my life to be in line

with who I believe I am.

I am a creative person.

I have a high sensitivity for life.

I love nature.

I believe in the power of art

to heal,

to energize,

to change a room,

to change our lives.

That's why I paint in 2022.

Written by Gabriela Gil