The Daring Way I Launched My Art Career

By Esther Maxwell

“What do you want to be when you are big?” Growing up, we’ve all got that question from one adult or another. My response was always the same – a big toothy smile and the reply, “I’m going to be an artist!”

While I remained young, this answer was greeted with indulgent smiles and encouragement. When I graduated high school, my words were no longer hypothetical. They became a decision. They became a fight. They became a dream that would not die.

I completed a visual arts course with General Assembly Art College and a graphics course with Design Alive. I studied the science of art. I learned what shapes, colors, and composition do to a painting. When I completed this course, I took a job in graphic design – but this was selling the creative urge inside me short. I knew it even as I worked on flyers, advertisements, and newsletter layouts. I was feeding my soul crumbs and trying to be happy. I must have been one of the few people in the world who were genuinely relieved when coronavirus shut down the world, and with it, my job as a graphic designer.

I was free.

With my extra time, I went down to the wealthy West Midwood neighborhood in central Brooklyn with my art materials and painted one of the houses. After completing the painting, I knocked on the house’s door to show my piece to the owner. I was shaking like a leaf when the door was answered. This was my first time presenting my artwork and I didn’t know how it would be received. The owner looked at my representation of her home and was so warm and enthusiastic about it. I wasn’t planning on selling it, but her praise gave me the confidence to offer the piece to her. She accepted my price and actually gave me more for the piece than I had asked!

I spent the next two months doing similarly unsolicited drawings and selling them to the homeowners. I learned a lot about perspective, line art, and business – but more than anything else, I learned that my art is sellable and that you can make a living off of doing something that you love. I was written up in the local newspaper. One thing led to another and soon I was soon being asked to do large scale paintings for the people in the neighborhood. I was given the opportunity to do what I dreamed to do since I was old enough to dream.

My art has always been full of color and life. I don’t believe a painting should be a noun. It’s a verb. It has energy, a story, a life – just like you and me. I add as many colors as I can in my paintings because color carries a much greater story than neutrals do. Yellow is happy, pink is playful, blue is calm. The subject I paint are scenes that speak to me of my experience with the world.

I was raised Orthodox in Flatbush so I have a lot of memories of seeing Judaism played out. When I paint a little boy’s upsherin, a father learning with his son, or a musician at the Kotel, I am painting a memory of something that makes me happy and proud.

My favorite part of being an artist is the relationship I form with my paintings and with the people who buy them. I almost feel like I am putting parts of myself – my values, my personality, my fears- out into the world. When people respond positively to my work they are responding positively to a deep part of myself. It is incredibly validating and I can’t think of any job that gives you the emotional highs that being an artist gives you. After someone buys my work I float on air. This emotional high does come with its crashes though. If I go through a dry spell or I am just feeling low about myself, I still have to work – even without the fuel. No one is on top of me, it’s true. I am my own boss. But this is hard too. You have to be twice as motivated, twice as on top of yourself because no one else is. You have to do this whether you are on fire or not. You have to have a constant stream of positive self-talk, a memory for the good in the past and a strong imagination for the grand in the future. Keeping your thoughts in check like this is challenging, but 100% doable and 100% worth it in the long run.

I have come a long way from the hapless graphic designer shriveling away in her cage. I have met a lot of people, shared a lot of my work, and learned a lot about the world. I am excited about the future and the risks I plan to take. For now, I am trying to improve my landscape painting. Portraits come easily to me because there is so much to tell in a portrait. Landscapes are more subtle, but I am excited to face this challenge and I hope to succeed. My dream is both terrifying and amazing and I will continue to fight to make it come true. Thank you for taking an interest in my story. Without people like you, there wouldn’t be a story to tell.

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Esther Maxwell will be presenting her art this Sunday, February 14, from 2-5:00 PM at the Leviim Art Gallery at American Dream Mall – 1 American Dream Way, East Rutherford, NJ 07073.

She can be contacted at [email protected] or @esthermaxwell.fineart

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