Keely Masterson is a self-taught mixed-media artist and illustrator. She’s semi-nomadic with her home base in Los Angeles, CA. This is her final installment in a 4-part series as Artist Strong’s Artist in Residence.

You can enjoy more of her art on Instagram: @wildflowerpantry. Stay tuned for the launch of her website https://www.wildflowerpantry.com

Where to go From Here

As I reach the end of my time as an Artist-in-Residence with Artist Strong, I have been reflecting a lot on this journey and where I want to go from here. Unfortunately, I didn’t get nearly as much done as I had hoped to this month. I ended up getting sick for about a week, and it really impacted not just my momentum but also my confidence in what I’m doing. I ended up spending quite a bit of time questioning my choices and abilities. At the end of it, I’ve just come back around to the understanding that I need to be kind to myself, that my work doesn’t need to be perfect, and that I can change my mind as many times as I need to.

One sort of surprising thing that has come out of this is a strong desire to pull out my gouache paints and just start painting with no other goal than to feel the wet paint brush touch the paper and push the pigment around.

A finished illustration for Wildflower Pantry

I think it’s because I’ve been working digitally for a while now, and while I do tend to alternate between the two, I guess the idea that I’ll be working on this long project for the foreseeable future has really made me crave the other.

For Wildflower Pantry, my goal for this residency was to complete four illustrations this month that I could immediately post on my website. While I haven’t been able to accomplish that within this timeframe, I still intend to finish them within the next month or so. Ultimately, my plan is to keep working steadily until I complete 20 illustrations—starting with these initial four and building momentum from there. After reaching that milestone, I’ll continue creating illustrations for the website at a more relaxed pace, working on them as inspiration strikes, while also making space for other projects that interest and nourish me.

When I reflect on where to go from here and what’s next, outside of my Wildflower Pantry project, I’d love to participate in another artist residency—or something similar—but this time in person. As a self-taught artist, I often feel like I’m missing a sense of creative community since I usually work alone. This year, I want to change that by seeking out opportunities to spend time in supportive environments where I can fully focus on my art while connecting with other creatives who are doing the same.

And that’s it for now. I really appreciate everyone who has joined me on this journey—it’s meant a lot to share this experience with you. I hope some of you will continue to follow along on Instagram and at wildflowerpantry.com (once it’s launched) to check in on my progress. Until then, I’m excited to keep creating, learning, and seeing where this path leads next.