We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adriana Jay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adriana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Last year, I took a leap of faith and re-painted my very first storefront mural in the Wynwood arts district. I painted the entire thing black⁠ to give myself a literal reset. It was hard to stand in front of my art, knowing full well that I was going to wipe out in seconds what previously took me days and days to create.

But it was harder to ignore everything else: that I had endured a crazy pandemic, that perfectionism wasn’t going to keep me prisoner, and that part of evolving means rewriting the narrative.

Here’s the story: I was invited to paint a mural at Rupees Sarees, a popular Indian clothing store, in 2016 at the very start of my artistic career. It was a big deal to me, an emerging artist, to be trusted in this way! I chose a beautiful Indian bride as the muse and mustered all the courage to battle creeping imposter syndrome as I sketched the silhouette on the wall. After days and days, the mural was complete and I couldn’t believe I’d done it. At the time, it was the longest I had ever painted for and I was in awe that I had pulled it off. This was a major turning point for me because it gave me the confidence to put my art out there. Because of this project, I learned to stop saying I had painted “a little mural” and that I’m just “kind of an artist.” I was grateful to this mural for helping me take up space and for not playing small.

So why did I wipe it clean five years later? Because for years after painting this mural, I wondered if I could ever do something like this again. Doubt crept back in and I questioned if I could be capable of painting a mural once more. Perfectionism is something I have always grappled with so the thought of painting over the mural terrified me at first for fear of the new version being “less than perfect” or inferior to the first.

But more importantly, I wanted to take the risk. If the pandemic had taught me anything, it was to believe in the power of perseverance and to remember that I’m strong enough.

So with this attitude in mind, I approached the wall with a whole new mindset. Whereas with the first mural I was focused on making something beautiful, with the second mural I wanted to make something alive, something that reflected what fuels my fire. This time, instead of an Indian bride, I chose to give the muse a backstory and was inspired by Draupadi, who is largely considered to be the first feminist in the Mahabharata, the Hindu epic. Draupadi is credited with sparking the flame that encouraged women to speak up against oppression.

Painting this new mural was invigorating and reminded me that being pretty and perfect is not my goal⁠—as a woman or an artist⁠—but that being honest and brave is. This project will always be special to me because it’s an example of what happens when you create from the heart and believe in yourself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I’m a self-taught Ecuadorian artist based in Miami and I paint women of all backgrounds making the world theirs. My paintings tell stories of diversity, courage, and the spirit of adventure seekers. That’s because I often portray real women who are shaping their communities, embarking on journeys, and trotting the globe.

Representation is important to me, and I’m vocal about mental health as well, so you’ll often see these themes in my art. It’s why my work, which typically comprises paintings on a canvas, touches on subjects like body acceptance, anxiety and identity while also highlighting culture and heritage.

My medium is acrylic paint and I can be commissioned for portraits to document or creatively render a special journey or travel experience. I focus on travel because I believe it’s an agent for change and when women travel, especially women of color, they break through narrow and limiting beliefs surrounding gender roles, class and privilege to remind us that the world is their playground.

From time to time, you can also find me live painting or showcasing my paintings, prints, and travel postcards around Miami’s market circuit and creative community.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Painting is deeply rewarding–seeing the artwork take shape, the look on a client’s or art collector’s face when they receive their finished painting, sharing my love of colors with others and talking about my muses–it’s incredible. One thing that doesn’t often come up in conversations though, is that painting is a labor as much as it is a love. I think it’s important to remember that there’s so much more to making art than meets the eye.

While I totally get that there’s this romanticized image of the artist happily humming along as they create (summoning Bob Ross-esque imagery), making art still requires a lot from the artist: time, resources, physical energy, and mental or emotional stamina and it’s helpful to keep this in mind both as a creative and a non-creative.

Friends are surprised to learn how long it can take to render a face, how many tubes of acrylic can go into painting a single background, or how you can pull muscles from staying in the same painting position for too long (although this one usually garners jokes about my age too).

Live painting, for instance, requires not only being comfortable with performing on the spot but also taking the time to nurture conversation with onlookers and making sure your paint doesn’t dry out all at the same time. There’s a lot of logistical balancing at play too, like knowing which designs are optimal in a time crunch or what order to paint things in to allow for drying time while still keeping the audience engaged.

I also can’t divorce art making from the fact that it forces me to confront my anxiety. Will I get this shape or line right? If I change this feature, will I ruin the composition? What if I bomb at the showcase? These kinds of thoughts run across my mind while I’m in the studio, right alongside the feelings of joy and calm that come with creating. So while it’s fun to be an artist, it also requires a lot of emotional endurance because making art requires you to be vulnerable–and that takes guts.

I believe that by being honest about what goes into the process, both technical and mental, people can see that creating is more than just a hobby. With this insight, they can have a deeper appreciation for art, see its value, and respect artists for the amount of work that goes into making something.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lie that held be back for the longest time was that you have to have it together in order to get started. If I’m being honest, I’m still unlearning this. Both as an entrepreneur and an artist, this myth has slowed me down but I’m living proof that it didn’t stop me.

When I got to college, I didn’t pursue art because I was told I would starve (another lesson that so many artists are unlearning). I chose an entirely different track as my career and for 10 years I didn’t pick up a paintbrush. When I woke up from my creative hiatus a decade later, I was thrilled.But I was also paralyzed by the fear that I was out of touch with technique, having never been professionally trained. I lamented that I didn’t go to art school and felt like a fraud. I had a really hard time even calling myself an artist because I didn’t have the fancy curriculum vitae to show for it.

Luckily, I had an amazing support system who reminded me that even the best masterpieces were built a little at a time. So with that in mind, I took the few paintings I had and started to showcase. I reached out to venues and events to see if they were interested in having my art on display. I spent time getting better, practicing technique, building my website, testing out different styles, envisioning my display setup, and defining my messaging. Little by little, I built my art business.

There were moments where having a perfectly polished plan would’ve definitely made life easier but I knew I wasn’t going to get that without experience. And to achieve that, I had to be comfortable with being a work in progress. In many ways, I’m still a rough draft and there’s beauty in that!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.adrianajay.com
• Instagram: @artistadrianajay