Paschalyne Ibe’s Inspiring Journey to Art

Paschalyne Ibe shares her inspiring story with Kurating, telling us how she went from art enthusiast to artist by dint of sheer willpower and determination. “Half of the time I’m not sure what I’m doing, how to start or where to start from.”

Let me begin by stating that I have always been and will always be a believer of being able to do whatsoever I set my mind to achieve.

I started my Art journey out of curiosity and fear. The curiosity was borne from my unexplainable love for everything Artistic. The fear spun from the worry that I just might be a talentless hack who was going to end up bland. I refused to be ordinary.

My Art journey is best described as a slow but steady process which translates to never giving up. If I had given in to my limitations and constraints (I had lots of them) I wouldn’t be where I am today. I instead embraced the limitations, looked past them and kept moving.

Being a creative is not as easy and beautiful as the picture usually painted by the public -an artist working while listening to jazz, sipping red wine and working some more or an   artist having a perfectly nice lunch with friends, suddenly falling into a trance/frenzy, grabbing a canvas and starting to paint (or some paper for writing, as the case may be).

The internet plays a major role in my work and it is where I started my journey from. In the beginning, I signed up to a website which offered drawing classes to both beginner Artists and veteran Artists alike.  In addition to lessons from the website, I downloaded books, YouTube videos and everything else Art related that I could lay my hands on.

I have faced challenges of course, internal and external.

Internally I battle with the feeling best described as ‘Impostor Syndrome’. It takes a whole lot to get past it, especially as I wasn’t born with this skill. Half of the time I’m not sure what I’m doing, how to start or where to start from. The most important thing, however, is that I show up and put the time in and build on. The good stuff just comes and the result warms my heart, leaving a feeling of satisfaction in its wake. I don’t wait for inspiration to hit me (or that sudden ‘flash of light’). It does come sometimes but I do not sit around waiting for it. The amazing thing is that when I get started, the mood falls into place and then it’s hard to get out, the hours pass by and I find myself reluctant to stop.

Externally I encounter family, friends and acquaintances who, while not taking me seriously, request for free portraits of themselves. This usually spurs me to launch diatribes about how Art isn’t free.

To keep me guided on this journey, I do not underestimate the power of like minds. What I do is find like-minded people who have the same interests that I do and follow their works, not necessarily to seek their validation. I celebrate, encourage and admire them.

Paschalyne Ibe is a Lawyer and a passionate Creativist. She was born in Aba, the bustling city of Abia State, Nigeria. She studied at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Her Art (which includes Writing) appears majorly on her social media pages and have also appeared in other online outlets.

You can find Paschalyne on Instagram (@bohobyoma + @ij.oma) and Facebook (Paschalyne Ibe). She currently lives in Lagos, Nigeria.