Today we’d like to introduce you to Josefina Arevalo.
Josefina, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
To understand my journey one must know a little of my history. Both my parents migrated from different parts of Mexico, my dad from Morelia Mechiocan and my mother from Tijuana, for a better life here in America. After having three children on June 14, 1995, I Josefina Arevalo was their last born. Growing up in dual language home made it very difficult for me to express myself through words, so I found myself drawing to communicate what I was feeling at the time. Later in the early years of childhood, I went through several traumatic events that have now transpired into PTSD and anxiety. Going to therapy was not enough for me at that age so I found art to be my way of coping and I found refuge in art. Growing up, my parents would take us to my father’s home ranch, and many different parts of Mexico. I found this beautiful country to be inspiring and felt the need to document through my art. I filled sketchbooks with drawing of beautiful art, places, animals that I was observing all around me.
Going into high school, I took advantage of the art classes provided and took art up until senior year. Going into college, I took many art classes and found myself one or two classes away from my associates in art until I changed my major to Child Development. I dove in full force into Child Development and then transferring to Point Loma Nazarene where I received my bachelor’s in Child Development. After finally finishing my long term goal, I had realized that I had lost a huge piece of who I am as a person. It wasn’t until my great grandmother had passed that I felt completely lost. I felt that my anxiety and depression was eating me up alive and I didn’t know what to do with myself. One night, at my lowest, I grabbed my art supplies and sat myself down and painted until I fell asleep. The next morning I felt a sense of release and I began to paint more and more. I realized then that I could not let this go, I began my journey of Pintar Con Amor.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey with Pintar Con Amor has not been an easy journey. Being a person with major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and PTSD as made this extremely difficult because I find myself to be the biggest hurdle I face. I constantly compare myself to other artists and often find myself feeling not good enough. Which leads me to stop promoting my art and feeling uninspired. I constantly have to remind myself that everything takes time. The healing will take time and with that will bring more and more confidence in myself and in my work. Another struggle I face is being an early child educator it does not give me a lot of time to work on my art. Finding balance between life, work, health, and self-care is always a balancing act for me. This past year I put Pintar Con Amor on my major focus and have found much success which pushes me to keep going.
What should we know about Pintar Con Amor? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Some things to keep in mind when purchasing a piece of my artwork is that it is originally hand made by me Josefina Arevalo. That each piece takes a tremendous amount of work and thought process. You should know that most of my artwork is inspired by my latinx roots and experiences growing up in my culture. What I feel I do best is mixing a neo traditional style to my own. I am very inspired by the neo and traditional American tattoos. I love using bright colors that balance each other out.
I feel what sets me apart from others, is maybe my story. Each artist has a story and it ultimately what sets each of us apart. I feel that I did my best with what was given to me and I’m very proud of how far I have come.
I still have a lot of growth to do as an artist and with that comes my confidence. This past year I would of said was a success for my start up of Pintar Con Amor, because I was able to share my work with so many people. I was fortunate enough to be invited to showcase in Chicano Art Gallery, La Bodega Gallery, and was a vendor for many different events throughout the year. I was able to meet inspiring people with amazing artwork and was able to do collaborations. Many people who I knew and didn’t know bought different pieces throughout the year, that supported me to keep investing in Pintar Con Amor. For me the more art I share the more successful that is to me because that means that my art touches people in one way or another. To me I accomplished my goal when a piece is sold, because it means that my message came across.
Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
My advice for other women starting their journey would to be fearless. No matter what, do not give up on what you want to do. La lucha sigue, y ponte las pilas mija. Translating to “the fight continues, put on the batteries”. These are sayings that were said to me by my parents that I live by and inspire me.
Contact Info:
- Email: Arevalo0614@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pintarconamor06/
Image Credit:
Josefina Arevalo
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
