Today I was working the business/social side of art. I presided over our Art Club meeting this evening, so my day was filled prepping the agenda, counting peoples choice ballots and other tasks to prepare. The weather was pretty awful, but we had a small but loyal group in person plus more joining us on zoom.

After the business part of our meeting is wrapped up we have some snacks and either a demo or critique. Tonight was a demo from a License plate artist, Dusty. He showed us how he cuts the license plates and folds them into various forms such as trays, barn-stars and bird houses. He then invited us each to chose a license plate from his collection and made us each either a dragonfly yard decoration or a tray. My son chose a tray which turned out really neat, and I picked a dragonfly. It turned out so cool! He is so fast and was able to make everyone in attendance a souvenir in the hour allotted for our demos.

In addition to creating License plate art Dusty is also a Notary, chef, and landscaper. Quite the jack-of-all trades, as many of us creative types tend to be. He mentioned how he had never really considered himself an artist or pursued creative practices until his forties. I think there are quite a few artists, myself included, who really start our creative journey later in life. I needed the confidence those years brought to really be brave enough to take the risks that creating art requires.

Did you get started in your art practice later in life?