Unlock your Inner (Insert Dream Here)

Friday, 1/22/2010

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My dad was an artist. He didn’t always use that word to describe himself. He spent most of my childhood in a sort of Death of a Salesman existence. It happens. He got married young. And, the financial pressures of providing for a family of five helped cement his choice. In my teens, he lost his job selling roofing equipment and found his calling as an artist. His work isn’t in The Louvre or any MOMA but it was original and different and uniquely his. And Jerry Ford, the artist, was a much happier dad than Jerry Ford, the salesman.

You’d think his story would have been enough of an inspiration for me to find my inner artist. But it wasn’t. I, too, spent many years distracted by life and by fear of attaching such a lofty adjective to my name. ME!? An artist!? La dee DA! Where was my work? What would I paint?

How would I find my “voice?” My inspiration came from a very unlikely place…my boring next-door neighbor.

One Saturday, I strolled by an open garage in the alley. I noticed that my aforementioned boring next-door neighbor was painting on a huge canvas. (FYI: almost anything looks cool on a big canvas.) My neighbor!? He got to call himself an artist before I did? I don’t think so. He didn’t even fit the profile. He was a mild mannered anal-retentive doctor by day. Not exciting or “artistic” at all. He didn’t even wear a beret for God’s sake. He told me how much he loved the artist Mark Rothko, but he couldn’t afford one of Rothko’s paintings, so he was inspired to “copy” one. The next few weekends I would walk over to see how the bright red canvas was progressing. I sat in awe as this unlikely artist meticulously blended the colors and tweaked his masterpiece. When it was complete, his painting was magnificent. He did NOT accurately reproduce the original. He did better than that. He produced his very own peerless piece de resistance.

To this day I call him Dr. Muse. He unstuck me. I had always been hung up by the fear that whatever I painted wouldn’t be special enough. The truth is whatever I paint is a Kelly Ford original. I couldn’t begin to accurately copy anyone’s work. After observing Dr. Muse in his garage gallery, I embarked on my first big girl painting. My subject was a mermaid. Looking back, it was an interesting choice given that mythical mermaids often represent transformation.


I used big deep brush strokes, lots of swirls and bright colors to create a big blond mermaid with junk in her trunk as well as in other places. Ahem. I guess you could say it was a self portrait. I tried to fashion a Botticelli effect. But I botched the Botticelli and still, somehow, my mythical mermaid ended up unique and cool. It was a Botti-Kelli. (Again, a big canvas makes any painting instantly cooler.) I even ended up selling that painting. I know! That makes me a BONAFIDE Botta-Kelli.


What adjective are you afraid to attach to yourself? Is it artist, writer, photographer, actor, sculptor, dancer, or athlete? The metaphor is obvious. Pick up the paintbrush or the pen or the script and orchestrate your own magnum opus. This is a good reminder for me with a new year and a new decade underway. I don’t paint enough. Or write enough. I have plenty of distractions. I bet you do too. The list is too boring and mundane to go into here. Friend me on Facebook and you’ll understand. And while finding matches for all the socks in my house does give me a sense of accomplishment, it doesn’t give me the satisfaction of concocting something that no one else has or ever will. To what original creation will you put your signature to, in 2010? Checks don’t count. I’m going to find a big canvas and make a big beautiful creative mess right now and sign Kelly Ford in the lower right hand corner.

Denver radio personality Kelly Ford is a regular contributor to Walden.com. Ford grew up in Louisville, Kentucky with middle child syndrome (LOOK AT ME!). As an off the charts extrovert and the girl who wanted to make everyone laugh she knew that becoming an accountant was not in her stars. She received her B.A. with a double major in Communications and Government from Western Kentucky University. Her first big girl broadcasting job was in her hometown and a year later she moved to Denver. After a year of doing news at KOA, she landed a gig on the morning show at KYGO. She’s been there ever since except for a short stint in talk radio in the mid 90’s. Kelly has won three CMA (Country Music Association) major market personality of the year awards in 2002, 2004 and 2006. And in 2008 won the prestigious Marconi Award from the National Broadcasters Association. Kelly is married, has three children, two cats, a dog and a fish that she says refuses to die.

Follow Kelly on Twitter: @thekellyford, Facebook, and on her website kellyford.voice123.com.