Conversations with Kelly Diffie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Diffie.

Hi Kelly, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It all started on a rural dairy farm in the early 80s. I was 6 years old and my father gave me a can of black spray paint, a pot of white acrylic, and a detail brush along with an open-face helmet to wear with my new minibike and told me I needed to paint it in a way that would express myself to anyone who saw me wearing it. I painted it all black with a skull and crossbones on one side and a spider web on the other.

That was a long time ago, and many things have changed over the years but my passion for art which was truly sparked on that day has not.

While I have not always had direction in my artistic endeavors over the years, I have always had a strong desire to leave behind a legacy for people to truly enjoy for many years and hopefully generations to come after I am gone from here and that has fueled my creativity to a point where I believe my dream can and is finally coming true.

However, where I started isn’t as important as how I have gotten here or where I am headed, and my plan to get there.

Dedication, passion, and determination are the tools I have found most useful in my mission to leave my mark on this world.

I don’t have any hype men, an agent, or a publicist but what I do have is a determination to succeed. It can be scary to put yourself out there. Fear of rejection stops many people dead in their tracks. There are 8 billion people on the planet, and not everyone likes the same things or has the same tastes. The chances of encountering “no’s” are no greater than the chances of being met with “yes’s” in fact the chances of yes’s increase exponentially with each ask and more so with each no. The reality of the matter is that if fear is not confronted it cannot be overcome.

I am passionate about my art and my expression and I love what I do and the things I make, I think that people see that and my positive attitude about myself and my work is infectious, it spreads to others who see it and they feed off the energy I put into not only creating the things I make but in talking about them and sharing them with people as well.

I am dedicated to my passion and craft and I take great pride in my work which shows in everything I do, whether it is painting or marketing myself and my work to others around me.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I used to struggle with motivation, but then a wise person told me this: There is a difference between motivation and discipline – Motivation waxes and wanes, it comes and goes and if you rely on it you can fail.

Discipline is something that happens, you just do it, it’s like breathing. Discipline yourself to win and become unstoppable.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in smiles, if what I do makes me smile, then it stands to reason it will make others smile as well.

One thing that I enjoy doing is giving away free art to people and I try to regularly host free art events where my family and I will just give away art to random people on the street, and lots of it, at our last event we gave away more than 60 pieces of original art on canvas! We also like to hide art in various places for people to find and take home or just enjoy and leave for the next person.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The future of art is always threatened by science and other subjects deemed more “important” than self-expression and beauty. In my opinion, though, there is nothing that could ever be more amazing than a person freely expressing how they feel or what they think without fear or fear of judgment. The newest so-called threat to modern artists and the future of art is AI art according to media trends.

Many artists seem to fear losing their jobs to machinated purveyors of cheap art, and while it has changed the nature of how things are being and will need to be done, it is a part of the technological tide which cannot be stopped, those who cannot adapt will be overtaken and those who embrace the changes and evolve will be the future of the industry as it is in any field.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ArizonaArt.info
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/arizona_artistry?igshid=OGQ2MjdiOTE=