Today we’d like to introduce you to Curbie Toles
Hi Curbie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started painting back in 2015/2016. I was an correctional officer for the past 10 years for the state of Alabama. Do to the high levels of stress fromt he working environment. I decided to use the state benefits to my advantage and seek therapy. I was taking alot of the anger from work home with me and it wasn’t really healthy for my mental. So through therapy I was reminded of a childhood passion I had for drawing. But through my own curiosity I wondered if I could actually paint a picture from memory that I saw. So I went to Micheals, bought a bunch of random art supplies, started painting and havnt stopped since. I was really shy about actually putting myself out there for people to really see my work. It wasn’t until 2020 when I really went public, putting things on social media, painting live in public and selling my work. That was due to the death of one of my best friends Detective Tanisha Pughsley who was killed due to domestic violence. So to honor her last wish of me to see where my art would really take me. I put myself out there in her memory.
Alright, 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?
What was really challenging at times was comparing my work to other artist. I had to learn to stop doing that. Putting myself in a competition mindset with others, resorted in me producing some of low quality pictures I could paint because my own skill set had yet to increase in what I was trying to do. So I had to learn to be patient with myself and let my art progress naturally and learn different techniques by mastering the one thing I could do best first before I tried anything else. Which was animation but once I got that down everything else eventually came on its own. Another struggle was completely being comfortable with painting live letting people into my safe space for them to see my process. I was very shy and critical of my own work so it was hard everytime I would attend an event. My nerves would rattle a bit before I started I had to get a grip and calm down to keep my hand steady enough to paint. Also learning the business side of the things, building connections with other artist. There’s so much leg work you actually have to do get yourself out there, get recognized, it takes away from actually creating sometimes so learning how to manage your time to be able to create.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I just recently started to pursue the life of a fulltime artist this year. What I would say i specialize in is animation and the art of story telling. Creating variations or maybe just one picture that tells a story about history or recent events. Im known for painting live at any social event an able to just to expose my talent. I’m most proud of creating my own known profit kids group in Montgomery I call Creative Proteged, is started this group because a high-school friend of mine asked me if I taught kids. I told her no but I could give it a try. Now I have a small group of 4 boys I see consistently, 3 girls who are in and out because they have other things going on. The idea was to give mothers or single mothers a break for 4-5 hours and allow their kids to come experience something creative to open up their own creativity. Being a positive influence on the youth had become important to me after seeing so many young adults come to prison early because of their lack of guidance, outside of their parents. I’ve been doing that for about 5 years now im really connected to those kids especially the boys I’ve enjoyed watching them grow and develope inoefhe young gentleman they are. I listen to them an can be amazed at how educated they are on things you wouldn’t think kids would even understand. I think what most sets me apart from others is my work ethic! There isn’t a day that I don’t paint, not coming up with new ideas writing them down, searching for new art opportunities for myself. Even when things seem slow I don’t stop. How frequently I paint I don’t think anyone around me matches that energy.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Doing the covid crisis I learned how easy it is for others to be influenced by social media. An how to appropriately engage others after having to endure the 6 feet rule. Just noticing how chaotic things got a little. To stay away from it. But the biggest lesson I learn was how to protect myself. How not to engage in certain things, sensitive topics while also trying to take advantage of different business opportunities online by using social media to promote myself.
Pricing:
- SuperVsDragon $400
- All For One $350
- Euphoria $400
- MzTimless $600
- Left Eye/Golden View $450
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ideasforcreativear.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ideasforcreativeart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/7jvMsvJ5j1LdwL6D/?mibextid=qi2Omg
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@ideasforcreativeart
