ghxstieart

[ghxstieart]

The Linear in The Circular Collection ...

I love this collection; it's a part of a greater series called Apparently, which is about reconnecting with myself, and my purpose. This collection in particular depicts the process of self evolution. The pieces are limited editions, they are 20X24 inches in size, and are abstract surreal digital art pieces made using photography, digital illustration, and digital paint.

DM me if you'd like to collect!

[ghxstieart]

Home; 2024, The Linear in The Circular Collection by Ghxstie.

[ghxstieart]

Drift; 2024, The Linear in The Circular Collection by Ghxstie

[ghxstieart]

The Apparently Series is coming along beautifully ... These are the first two 1/1s the series. It currently has two collections as well!

[ghxstieart]

[ghxstieart]

Soooooooo ... you might have noticed that I changed my name.

You can thank Julia Cameron. I got to week 11 of "The Artist Way," and realized all the name changing I've done this past decade has been about 'branding.' But you can't really brand and package an artist. An artist can lean into their authenticity. Any artist can heal, and therefore expand into a breakthrough that expresses its self with confidence. But ... you don't brand them. They are the brand. Their flesh, and the way they dress it, are the packaging.

Throughout the program I heard story after story about artists submitting themselves to the world; they would allow others to consume what they can of what's channeled in their act. And this was enough. Everyone isn't going to get or accept it. And target markets work for monoliths much better than beings aware of their awareness. And so, with that new 'ah-ha' moment, came the memory of my very entry into 'becoming an artist.'

I was in my 20s and evading art like the plague because my parents berated me with lectures on how it was 'going to leave me poor,' and no one they knew -who had become an artist- 'amounted' to anything. This was a rather weird tone and sentiment, as I literally grew up going to art festivals with them. We purchases limited editions and originals for great sums and framed them for even more. We'd even hosting art shows in our family home. Well being 20 something required I have a 'job' and start a 'career' of some sort. So I latched onto the closest thing to an art career I could get away with, digital art. At that time I had poignantly stationed myself at JCP Portrait Studio. This gave me access to my first Adobe Lightroom experience. I indulged in contrast and saturation; reframed expression to capture a moment. And as my college days came to an end, and I had no reason to work a part time, I clung to artists like Sue Bryce to convince myself I could make a day job a life's work. But it wasn't enough. And while gaining that courage, I began to gain some of another kind. Then it was Brooke Shaden providing me a gateway into digital collage. I had no clue what I was making, I just knew that I felt of flesh and bone for the first time. I was breathing. I could sit in front of an editing program and create the image birthed of my minds eye, and heart. I was captivated by my own creation; something I never felt after an art class or studying art history. I was alive. I went from capturing expressive baby and toddler moments to film sets as the day job and digital art a secret dream I held tight. I wanted to direct; that's what I went to school for. And in my mind I was giving the world billions of stills -billions of works of art. The compromise wasn't sufficient. Now I had two passions on my hands, a mind divided and burnt out from fear, and no substantial progress by my, or my parent's measure. I had become the thing they warned of. An artist, starving.

With this latest art breakthrough came the profound understanding that i've been hiding most of my life. My hiding lead to the very poor choices that made me into the thing I feared most -my parent's 'I told you so.' And after the dust of their dissatisfaction settled, something new emerged. It was strong. It was stronger than me at the time. It was me. A new fortified me. I realized that all the fear, all that 'failure,' was irrelevent. You can't run from who you are and expect to get away. That's a Fast Car. You can only move through it. Move through what you know of you, and expand to the heights of your desire. Focus, on anything, will only bring it to ahead; will only bring it forward. And in my focus I discovered ... I am an Artist. I can't get away from that -and I don't want tooooo.

And in all of this not a moment was wasted. I learned SO much. After years of fighting the artist I would inevitably become, I only fortified her becoming. I made her strong where I was weak. I acted as a ghost in my own existence, and that gave her the freedom to expand without scrutiny until she could manage on her own. And today is born Ghxstie. You can't see ghosts, you can't unsee them either. They haunt you. I haunted me. And now, I have the blessed and highly favored opportunity to let the unseen echo out across routers around the globe. I get to haunt you now ♥️.

[ghxstieart]

Last weeks Abstracts ...

[ghxstieart]

Over the weekend, I had a breakthrough. It dawned on me that the character that I used for my very first abstract surreal series -last year- was a character I've been trying to create for over a decade. I received the name for that character. Her name is SheBe. I also, upon receiving her name, received a bunch of poetry -or spoken word- to go with her name. I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate that into the art, yet; but I'm certainly going to incorporate it. I think that I'm going to make some music with the spoken word, but I may also put some of the words -some of the poetry- into the actual abstract surreal pieces.

And today, upon journaling, what I discovered is ... there is a point, where communion happens between SheBe and the nude expression of me. Apparently, this engagement, or adventure, this journey has been happening for years. And it started ... I don't even know when it started! SheBe has been around for at least a decade. And I've tried to utilize photography to capture her. Initially I was going to be the model for SheBe, but my vanity caught me. I was a little upset because I didn't have the right hair, and wasn't the shape, and wasn't brave enough to go out there half naked. All of these were basically excuses as to why I couldn't get it done, and they did make me pause. They did keep me from accomplishing the task, so she kind of lived in my mind for at least half of that decade. And then I got to a point where I had a breakthrough.

One day, I decided I wanted to draw myself into my art, and it became a very deep conversation I was having, internally. The first piece was rough. I never put it out, actually, but it does get showcased in pieces this year. I had worked really hard on it, and I fell in love with it, but had to I stop working on it because I couldn't afford the the program I was using to create the piece. I had been was utilizing a free trial of Affinity, after being burned by Photoshop for years. In all honesty, I should have been able to purchase that program 10 times over. I always had an excuse as to why I couldn't; which was really me floundering. And then I got to a point when my funds ran out and I could afford it. The file sat on my drive for years. It was lost for a time. Then resurfaced. When I opened it up I can see all of the imperfections, and I had managed to edit it in a way that some of the components I wanted to alter where no longer changeable. The file itself was to big for my laptop to handle its reworking. I was a little heart broken. But ... I don't think you can just decide that 'because your art isn't at the standard you are today,' that it doesn't get showcased; it doesn't get to see the light of day. I think art should be showcased. I think that's what makes you a pro artist to begin with; being bold enough to be that channel. So I'm going to put her out -as she's the second piece in a decade long series. SheBe and I have been disconnected for far to long.

[ghxstieart]

Joy comes in the mourning …

[ghxstieart]

You know you’re a digital artist when you get positively giddy about purchasing new editing software 🤭