In a world where the professional courses and jobs associated with it is considered highly respectable, a status symbol for many, a major source of income or a sense of pride for some people it makes it challenging for the same set of people to accept that having a job outside of these areas is also possible. In most cases it is considered a hobby and not so much of a sustainable job. For people who know me or don’t, I use to work as an IT HR consultant for a couple of years before I decided to start ‘paintedEarthbyneha’ in January 2012.
“It’s a beautiful thing when career and passion come together”
It has been a good 5+ years and I am happy about where I have reached. I never started this with a typical vision or mission, but a result of pure passion for “clay”. I had no financial commitments whatsoever (makes me sound so pampered) and I have my brother to thank for that. He stood by me and never made me feel that I had to contribute to the family financially. I was lucky to have that kind of support but having said that I wanted this to work more than anything else.
Gradually people started asking questions with regard to the choice I made, said it might be better to have a stable career and continue this as a hobby. But I refused to budge. Although I was growing steadily, there was a constant need to justify my choice to people. Sometimes to a degree that made me think if I was insecure about the career choice I had made.
“A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it” – W.H. Auden
When people question – so what is it that you do? And I would answer by saying “I am an artist”. That gradually moved on to “I am a terracotta jewellery artist”. I put in 50-60 hours of work a week into this, I use to fumble and not know if many would even consider this as a real job. It’s a choice I made years ago that continues to give me a great sense of satisfaction and I genuinely am thank full that although it wasn’t easy, I didn’t have to struggle much either to get here.
All that I am trying to say is there will always be people who will make you feel small or question you or talk about your work like it’s a graph that determines a profit loss statement but we keep going, we pursue what we love, we continue to make our dreams come true.
This write-up is to all those who are living their dream.
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Neha Gopinath Pillai
paintedEarthbyneha 