Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Elena Sandovici.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer and a visual artist. As a kid, I would make up stories. I would draw and paint every day. As I grew up, I abandoned these interests for more practical pursuits. I built a successful career that had nothing to do with art or with creative writing, a career that gave me the type of security I thought I needed. But it turned out that life without making up stories and playing with shapes and colors was boring to me. I reverted to my own creativity at a time when I needed to have a little more fun to make my daily existence more interesting and fulfilling. I started by spending a little bit of time each day writing fiction, and a little bit of time painting watercolors. Soon, these activities took over, and I realized that I wanted to make them a priority. Six years ago, I quit my tenured academic job and became a full-time artist and writer. It’s been an exciting adventure ever since!
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?
My biggest struggles came from my own limiting beliefs. I was always very independent, left home right after high school, supported myself in a foreign country while going to school. As a young person finding my way in the world, I was afraid to embrace art and writing as my vocation because I had a lot of fears around financial stability. I thought a more boring line of work would lead to a safe, stable livelihood. I purposefully choice a career path that bored me but which I knew I could excel in. While I don’t regret any part of my journey and the years in which I tried to be someone other than who I’m meant to be, provided valuable life lessons and inspiration, I now strongly believe that a career in art and writing can be lucrative. Artists and writers can be successful, and each little or big win that comes from pursuing one’s true passion is extremely meaningful and satisfying.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a full-time artist and writer. I paint in various mediums, including watercolor, acrylic, and oil, and I write women’s fiction, both contemporary and historical. I am best known for my watercolors, some of which grace the walls of the Tremont House hotel in Galveston, and for my historical novels set in Galveston, the best-selling one being Storms of Malhado.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I believe that luck plays a crucial role in everybody’s life. But I also believe that we make our own luck and that we need to be finely attuned to places, people, energies, and activities that seem to be lucky for us. For me, luck has mostly been about meeting the right people, having authentic connections with people I genuinely like that serendipitously lead to opportunity. When I was twenty-five, I was offered a great job, one that allowed me to finish my studies and overall changed the course of my life. I got this job because there was an unexpected vacancy at a university, and a professor recommended me. I never knew why me. I had not taken courses with that professor nor worked with them closely. I really think I was just someone who came to mind and that they trusted whatever instinct told them I might be a good fit. I was. And that job changed my life. Similar things would happen to me later – serendipitous connections with people. Houston is actually a very good place for that, or at least it’s a place that suits me. I feel like it’s a place where all the doors are open, where a stranger can walk into a room and find opportunity. Once, when I was new in Houston, I went to a party where I didn’t know a soul. I met and became instant friends with two English Pointers. They belonged to a famous Houston artist – John Ross Palmer. John ended up becoming my mentor and close friend. He taught me, among other things, that artists can be immensely successful, financially and otherwise, and that I needed to stop being afraid to pursue my dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.havewatercolorswilltravel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandovici_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mesandovici
