Ashley Elliott has done her art her entire life and has always wanted to be an artist, just never kept up with it — until she started painting regularly in 2013, when her father became fatally sick and she needed a way to release what was going on inside of her. She started taking her work to Philadelphia and never stopped. And today she is recognized as a Philadelphia artist.
In this episode, Ashley discusses:
-The appeal of Philadelphia and why she keeps going back.
-The allure of chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole and seeing where your art ends up taking you.
-Some of the synchronicities that she has experienced and how they make her feel.
-How artists don’t choose what they draw, but the art chooses them… and for her it is people.
-One of her first moments in sixth grade when a teacher inspired her to keep pursuing her talents as an artist
-How she always tries to encourage people to do whatever they want to do because life is too short.
-How you’re more insane to think that you can’t do something.
-How things can get a bit more difficult when money gets involved with your art, but how to effectively handle that.
-How her art is always evolving and teaching her about herself.
-Even when she paints other people, it is like she is painting a piece of herself and what she is feeling.
-How important it is to take time to do art for yourself, even when your art is a business.
-One of her best moments, during her first RAW Artists show, and seeing people appreciating and admiring her work.
-How achieving your dreams is often as easy as saying “Yes, I am going to do this” and then doing it.
-Her opinion on RAW Artists and how it can be a great way for new artists to “come out.”
Ashley’s Final Push will inspire you to believe that you can do it with all of your heart and soul, and then just go for it.
Quotes:
“Coming from a really small town I wanted to take my art to a bigger city.”
“Every artist has their own thing that they paint or draw or sculpt and it’s almost like they didn’t choose it – it chose them.”
“When you start believing in your art, it will keep evolving and it will start getting people’s attention and it will start shining through.”
“Whether you’re gonna let it out of you or not, you’re an artist. If you let it out, it’s going to evolve. It’s going to take you places. It’s going to create magic in your life.”
“I wanted to know, deep down inside, how my art made other people feel.”
“The coolest thing ever is to watch other people look at your art and feel something completely different than what you felt when you made it.”
“I think that a lot of artists do that – they take a lot of bad things and turn it into something great.”
“You won’t even have to try. It will keep taking you places as long as you just say ”Yes” and believe in it.”
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