You Can Never Lose Your Art: An Important Lesson I Learned from an Art Commission

Your art never leaves you. I learned this the hard way when I stopped making art for months, then got called to complete a restaurant commission. With no confidence and no direction, I created my first large painting, terrified it was proof I’d lost my way completely. But when the owner saw it, she wept with happiness. That night taught me the most important truth about creativity. Your art is always inside you, right there below the surface, waiting. There’s endless amounts of it when you source from within. Even when you feel disconnected, even when you think you’re not an artist anymore, it’s still there. You’re just getting started.

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When You Feel Like You’ve Lost Your Way

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your way with your art?

Maybe you haven’t picked up a brush in months. Maybe you look at your work and don’t recognize yourself in it anymore. Maybe you wonder if you’re even an artist at all.

I’ve been there.

There was a time when I had stopped making art completely. I was very disconnected from it. Not dabbling here and there. Not taking a break. Stopped.

Then my phone rang.

 

The Call That Changed Everything

A restaurant had commissioned me to do a painting months before. I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen. These things fall through all the time.

But they called. And they said they needed it.

The problem? I hadn’t been making art. I had no direction with it. No confidence. And this wasn’t just any painting. This was my first large painting. Literally my first painting at this scale.

I created this thing, this painting of a dog using the colors of the restaurant. It wasn’t realistic. It was stylized. But I really didn’t feel very confident at all about it.

I had no idea what I was doing.

 

The Evening at Embargo

The restaurant was called Embargo. A fancy place.

I brought the painting in one evening, and I was so scared. I was just hoping they were going to accept this thing.

I remember putting it up in the restaurant. They went and got the owner. She came out, and I was standing there, watching from down the length of the restaurant, watching her face as she approached the painting.

And her face just all of a sudden kind of went… sad.

All kind of sad.

And she just started crying.

 

 

The Moment I Thought I’d Lost Everything

I thought, “Oh my God, this is a nightmare.”

I am truly lost my art here. I’ve lost my way entirely.

She’s looking at this thing I made, crying, and I’m thinking this is the worst possible outcome. Confirmation that whatever artistic ability I once had is gone.

But then something shifted.

She kept walking toward the painting. And I realized she wasn’t crying because she hated it.

She was weeping with happiness.

 

What Really Happened

It was so moving for her, what I made.

I’d used the colors of the restaurant. The dog. Everything. It wasn’t realistic, but this stylized thing I’d created, the feeling of it that I had inside of me, it connected with her so deeply that she was literally crying.

I couldn’t believe it.

She hugged me.

And standing there in that restaurant, watching this woman’s emotional response to something I’d made when I had zero confidence, when I thought I’d lost my way completely, I realized something for the first time.

 

The Truth About Your Art

Your art never leaves you.

It’s always inside of you. Always.

Even when you feel disconnected. Even when you haven’t made anything in months or years. Even when you’re convinced you’ve lost it.

It’s right there, below the surface.

And here’s what else I learned that night.

There’s endless amounts of art when you source inside of yourself. Endless. You’re not running out. You’re not using it up.

You’re just getting started.

 

Why This Matters When You Feel Lost

I share this story with you because sometimes we feel like we’ve lost our way.

Sometimes we think we’re not artists. We look at what we’re making and it doesn’t feel like us. Or we stop making altogether because we’ve convinced ourselves the well has run dry.

But it hasn’t.

Your art is right there, waiting for you. Below the surface. In that place you might have stopped trusting.

The feeling I had inside me, even when I had no confidence, even when I had no direction, it was still there. And it connected with someone so deeply she wept.

That’s the power of what’s inside you. Even when you can’t see it. Even when you don’t trust it.

 

What Community Teaches Us

Being in community with other artists teaches us something invaluable.

This feeling of being lost? It happens to all of us.

The successful artists, the struggling artists, the beginners, the professionals. Everyone experiences moments where they wonder if they’re still an artist. If they’ve lost their way. If it’s still there inside them.

And community also teaches us this: we can find it again. So easily.

Not through forcing. Not through perfection. But through showing up and trusting that what’s inside you is still there, waiting.

 

When You Haven’t Made Art in a While

If you’re reading this and you haven’t made art in months, or even years, I want you to know something.

Your art is still there.

It didn’t leave when you stopped showing up. It’s not punishing you for taking time away. It’s not gone.

It’s right there below the surface, in that deep place inside you where creativity lives. The same place it’s always been.

And when you’re ready to reach for it again, it will be there. Maybe it will surprise you, like my restaurant painting surprised me. Maybe it will connect with someone in ways you never expected.

But it will be there.

 

The Inexhaustible Source

Here’s what I’ve learned in all my years of making art and teaching others to make art.

Creativity isn’t a finite resource. You don’t use it up. You don’t run out.

When you source your art from inside yourself, from that authentic place where your unique vision lives, there’s endless amounts. Truly endless.

Every painting you make doesn’t diminish what’s left. It actually opens the channel wider. Makes it easier to access next time.

You’re not running out. You’re just getting started.

 

Try This

If you’re feeling disconnected from your art right now, I want you to try something.

Just make something small. Not to show anyone. Not to be good. Not even to be authentic or personal or meaningful.

Just make something.

Put paint on a surface. Draw a line. Make a mark.

And notice that you can still do it. That the ability is still there. That something happens when you engage with materials, even if you don’t trust it yet.

Your art never left. It’s been there all along, waiting for you to come back.

 

A Question For You

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your way with your art? That moment when you wonder if you’re even an artist anymore, if it’s still there inside you?

I’d love to hear your story. Leave a comment below.

Because here’s what I know from being in community with thousands of artists over the years.

This happens to all of us. And we can find it again. So easily.

Your art is waiting for you. It never left.