Featured Artist Rhonda Dicksion

Award-winning artist Rhonda Dicksion present a collection of bold and graphic colored pencil drawings. Find more of her captivating art by visiting her website.

 

 

I always thought you needed an art degree to be an artist. You had to have tamed the color wheel, live in a loft somewhere, smell like turpentine and know what all those funny-shaped brushes are for. So, imagine my surprise when, one evening a few years ago, I went to a paint-and-sip workshop, did a little sipping and a lot of painting, and discovered–holy cow! The sunflower I painted really looked like a sunflower.

 

 

Now, this sunflower wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it was art. And I had created it. Yeah, me.

 

 

This blew my mind.

 

 

A few days later on a whim, and with a lot of enthusiasm and an old set of colored pencils, I decided to see if I could just draw something simple—an apple and an orange. When I was done, I sat back looking at my drawing for a few minutes, truly puzzled, not knowing how that apple and that orange happened to get on the paper. They looked pretty convincing. I didn’t know where the ability to create them came from, but it excited me, and in the following months I dove into making colored pencil art full of life and color, challenging myself with each new creation.

 

 

I was having fun. Consumed. When I was away from the pencils, I was thinking about them. It was as though a lifetime of pent-up art making was busting its way out of me.

 

 

But something wasn’t quite right. After a while, I began comparing my work to what other colored pencil artists were doing. Mine was quite a bit different. I was failing to master the photorealistic look that most colored pencil artists favor. The art I created was bold and graphic, with dark outlines. And, as one critic dryly pointed out to me, “Mountains don’t come with outlines.”

 

 

Then one day I was able to show my portfolio to a very successful artist, who put things into perspective. She asked me why on earth I was trying to make my art look like everyone else’s. “You have your own unique style,” she said, “Most artists work years to create that. Why do you want your art to look like everyone else’s?”

 

 

That question made all the difference. When I gave myself permission to create artwork in my own style, the world exploded. I accepted my style, and myself as a real artist.

 

 

Since then, my work has won many awards and been featured in magazines and newspapers. I’ve done group and solo shows, taught workshops nationally, and was hired on as editor-in-chief of COLOR, an international magazine for colored pencil artists. Every day, I fall even more in love with colored pencil. And best of all, every day, I get to share art with others and encourage and empower people who create.

 

 

It’s magic when you find that thing in life you are meant to do, and give yourself permission to do it.

 

Artist Rhonda Dicksion invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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