Bastards of Art : Episode 64

Bastards of Art: Too polished for folk art, too punk for fine art.

Episode 64

I Quit.

I Quit Drinking and my Art got Better

A decade ago I made the change to quit drinking. The act of drinking had become a way of life for so long that I do not remember too many things that didn’t involve having beers. When I was 35, I woke up and quit.

A lot of stuff got better. The craziest part was how focused my mind got. I was no longer a ball of nerves. I had lost that feeling of being on edge. It wasn’t over night, but I had a glimpse in those early days of what I was capable of. That lead me out of the drinking stage in my life to the art stage of my life.

I had always done art. I had always done art and felt like a big phony. The first months and even years I still felt very vulnerable. I want to say that with time things got better. That is not the case. With experience things got better. That is a much more accurate statement. The more action I put into place, the better everything got.

Today I am much more productive. Today I am much more focused. I can say that I accomplished more in one year being sober than 10 years drinking. My art feels right. I can learn new ideas and techniques. I am not afraid to explore outside my comfort zone.
I felt like I needed to put this in a podcast. I am shy talking about it because I do not want others to feel uncomfortable. I do not care what others do to get their inspiration. I just know that what worked for them, did not work for me.

Bastardsart · BOA64

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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel

Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.
Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design

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