🎨 Art as a Daily Practice and as a Career

I’ve always had a need to make things. Whether it’s art, food, gardening, or something in between, I don’t feel settled unless I’m creating. It’s not optional for me~ it’s who I am.

🌱 Art as Daily Practice

These days, I sketch, draw, or paint almost every single day. Sometimes it’s concepts for a series, commissions coming up, or pieces for courses. Other times it’s just doodles or quick studies. I try to carve out time for art daily~ the exception is when admin work takes over, or the garden calls and I need to tend to it.

Right now, heading into Q4 (the busiest season of the year), I spend mornings and early afternoons on admin and course creation. Then around 3 p.m., I shift into creative mode~ unless it’s one of those heavy admin days. It’s a constant juggle, but I’ve learned to flow with it.

When I don’t create, I feel restless. My soul feels uneasy, like there’s a little voice poking at me saying, “Hey, your idea is still sitting here… you haven’t put it down yet.” Honestly, it’s like Navi from Legend of Zelda~ persistent and slightly annoying, but impossible to ignore.

When I’m making art just for myself, though, the joy is completely different. I don’t care how messy or clean it is~ it’s freeing. I’ll doodle, play, make mistakes, and explore whatever my heart wants. I’ll grab a new medium just to see what happens, and sometimes the mess becomes more interesting than the polished piece.

I’ve set myself up for this by keeping sketchbooks everywhere. I have five on my desk, each with a different purpose, two by my bedside, and one in my backpack. I tend to doodle before I leave the office at night, but really, it depends on the day. Having sketchbooks close by makes it easy to catch those little bursts of creativity whenever they show up.

Daily practice is freeing. It’s my mental reset, my release, and my relaxation rolled into one. And sometimes those random doodles or playful experiments turn into something bigger~ a series or a finished piece I never expected.

💼 Art as a Career

The shift from hobby to career started in high school. I always doodled as a kid, but something changed then. I wanted to do something meaningful, something challenging and freeing at the same time~ and art hit that sweet spot.

Creating as a career feels different than creating just for myself. Professionally, I shift my style depending on the commission, client, or project, but my voice still comes through. Personally, it’s more of a free-for-all ~ a battle royal of ideas, limits, and experimentation.

The hardest part of art as a career? Admin work. It’s necessary, but it eats time. Some days, it pulls me away from making completely. I’ve learned to slip in doodles while files are loading, but overall, admin demands a lot of energy.

The best part? Being able to share my voice~ my ideas, concepts, culture, and heritage~ with others and to connect with people my art resonates with. That’s worth all the emails, spreadsheets, and deadlines.

Balancing business and making is… fluid. Every day is different. Sometimes it’s admin first, then creative work for the rest of the day. Sometimes deadlines take priority. I keep a calendar in my office where I adjust things constantly. The only constant is change~  and honestly, I like that about being an artist. Even event days follow that rhythm: a short show means spreadsheets afterward, while long shows might leave me too exhausted to create… or I’ll be so energized I keep drawing until I should really be asleep.

⚖️ Where the Two Meet

How do I keep career demands from killing the joy of my practice? By knowing my limits. I won’t take on work that doesn’t bring me joy or align with what I’m willing to create. That boundary has been one of the best things about leaving corporate life for my own studio.

I also let myself shift mediums. If I’ve been painting too long, I’ll switch to stained glass, candle making, enamel, or jewelry. Art is such a broad thing~ why corner myself into one? Variety keeps me moving.

And then there’s the art I make just for me. Sometimes it’s little things, like half-inch or smaller origami cranes, or sketches I never show anyone but my husband. Sometimes it’s big things, like planning a four-foot painting for my living room wall. My garden is another form of art most people don’t see~ landscape design is slow art, built through growth and care. Cooking, too, is art. These personal projects remind me why I love creating in the first place.

Series like my Temple paintings or Fuck Fascism keep me rooted as well. The Temple Series draws from my culture, dreams, and personal experiences. Fuck Fascism is political, a reflection of my feelings about the world. Both empower me and push me forward when I need momentum.

For me, food, gardening, and art aren’t separate categories~ they’re all creation. They flow into each other. That interchangeability is what lets me ebb and flow with what I need to make at any given time.

✨ Closing Thoughts

Creativity is where we grow, explore, and learn. Losing it means losing a huge part of ourselves. That saying, “adults stop dreaming, while kids dream day and night” ~ I don’t think that’s how people should live. We don’t have to stop dreaming.

A personal practice is yours alone. It’s one of the few things that no one else can do for you, and no one else can take away.

And as for the fear that turning art into a career will ruin the magic?
Only if you let it.