The Creative Journal of Tina Summers

Introducing... me.

It feels a little strange to put my thoughts out into the world, how I feel about the paintings I’ve completed and working on, writing about struggles that I’ve had in the process or in trying to accomplish my vision. It raises questions like ‘what am I going to put in my creative journal?’; ‘who is even going to read this anyway?’; and ‘how authentic am I going to be?’ - do you really want the ugly?

Will I include the ‘failures’? Music artists don’t put their songs that don’t make the album available for the world to hear. Maybe I’ll keep a physical journal for those that didn’t succeed because the value of those paintings is really for myself. I’m the one who will learn from what doesn’t work as much as I will learn from what does. Perhaps this space will be a place for me to write the story of each (successfully completed) painting and series. From concept to design and the production process through to completion… and any extras that may relate to it as well.

As for who is going to read this, I’m never going to know the answer to that. The wonderful and scary reality about the internet is that it never really goes away, does it? I will never know the extent (tiny or massive) of the impact that my creative journal may have. Who then is my audience? Perhaps if I imagine someone who loves my paintings and I’m writing this narrative to them it will be simple to write. What if I called you 'My Friend'? The person who is cheering me on and wanting the best for me each and every step on this long journey ahead of me. A Friend to share the journey with. That sounds nice.

And that naturally answers the next question, because I am always authentically me, especially with friends. I can share struggles and challenges along the way, even unsuccessful paintings (maybe just not show the pictures haha). I’ll know that you, My Friend, are still cheering me on to the next thing and eagerly anticipating the next painting and how it came to be in the world.

I’ll finish this one up by giving a tiny insight into my background as an artist. I grew up believing I couldn’t draw or paint, and only hindsight has shown that this was always the path I was meant to take. You can imagine my surprise when in my 30s I suddenly developed an overwhelming urge to draw. I won’t go into extensive detail, because no one loves a back-log data dump, instead I’ll sprinkle throughout my creative journal how I came to this point in my life. My journey began as many others do staying self-taught until I realised I needed more.

That’s the very short version of how I began studying in the Milan Art Institute Mastery Program as an abstract realism mixed media artist.

Tina