What I Learned From 20 Years As An Artist And Art Educator
Pen and ink contemporary fine art by Doug Ashby.
Always, there is a bright spot. Sometimes it reveals itself boldly, striking with a force that cannot be ignored. More often, it appears quietly. It is subtle, within reach, yet obscured by everything occupying the space around it.
The artwork above is an older piece from my journey as an artist. It was created about twenty years ago. I often return to my early work to see where I began and how I’ve progressed. In this piece, I see the first glimpses of a more mature artist. Someone still searching for something elusive, perhaps something that never fully arrives. I was pushing the boundaries of a developing ecological philosophy while trying to weave in and pay tribute to the artistic movements that shaped me.
There was a youthful urgency then. A restlessness that carried me from one piece to the next without much consideration of where I stood along the way. Now, with hundreds of artworks behind me, many of those desires remain. The longing to be seen and recognized as an artist is still alive. Today, however, that ambition is tempered by a deeper awareness of what the pursuit actually means.
I was not always a pen-and-ink artist. During my graduate studies, a professor suggested I try the stippling process. I knew of the pointillist painters of the late nineteenth century, but I had never considered applying something similar to my own work. I cannot recall my first stippled piece with certainty, although I believe it involved a cluster of mushrooms. What I do remember is how quickly the process resonated with me. The rhythmic movement, the patience it demanded, and the way time dissolved as I worked all drew me in. Each dot became a reflection of my early search for control, mastery, and direction.
A crucial moment came when my peers began validating this new approach. One fellow graduate student even described one of my earliest pieces as “perfection.” That affirmation strengthened my belief that art could become my profession. From that point forward, my journey as a pen-and-ink stipple artist truly began.
At the time, around 2005 or 2006, I was about five years into my career as an art educator. I was working toward my master’s degree to advance my licensure. I have shared before that I never truly set out to become a teacher. The profession simply kept me connected to my identity as an artist. With reflection, I now understand something far more meaningful. Without my career as a teacher, I do not believe I would have grown in the ways I have as an artist.
Teaching students about design strategies, art history, and the creative process deepened my own knowledge and strengthened my work at the same time. Watching students embrace their raw creativity and experiment without hesitation reminded me of what it means to create freely. Those years were essential in shaping the artist I have become. Teaching others unexpectedly turned into a form of learning for myself. I have often heard that the most effective way to learn something is to teach it. After more than two decades in education, I can say the statement is completely true.
There is another thread connecting the artwork above to the artist I am today. Fatherhood has played a crucial role in reaching this moment where I am stepping more fully into the life of a full-time artist. When I began this journey, I am not sure I fully understood my purpose. It was often about proving something. In the years that followed, I became a father. At first, my desire to create ecological and climate-focused narratives fueled my art. I wanted a better world for my children than the one I felt we were leaving behind. I hoped my work might awaken others to what needed to be done.
Over time, I realized that purpose, while important, was not enough to sustain and grow my practice. A deeper motivation emerged. My art became a way to show my children the importance of passion and pursuit. I wanted a life centered around my identity as an artist, a life that contributed to our family and demonstrated how meaningful it is to follow one’s passion. Creating brings me a sense of fullness that is difficult to describe. I work regardless of circumstance, and I hope my children build their own lives, whatever they choose, with that same sense of purpose and meaning.
The dots in my stippled work are, in many ways, a representation of my journey. They form a metaphor for the reality that creative paths are seldom straight lines. They resemble constellations. Each piece I have created is part of a larger pattern that connects across time and reflects what I am continually becoming. This older piece remains a meaningful point in that constellation. It is no more or less important than the work I create now or what I will create in the future.
During my years in education, I also spent time working with social emotional learning. My teaching partner and I came to understand that awareness, especially self-awareness, is foundational. With time, I have realized that my creative and teaching lives were never separate. They are different expressions of the same story. A bright spot that has finally come into view.
As always, I hope you enjoy the writing and the art. Please leave a comment and share part of your story. I promise to respond, and I look forward to continuing the journey together.
— Doug
