Welcome to My Creative Journey

Welcome to My Creative Journey

by Deborah A. Hughes

Some journeys don't start where you'd expect.

Mine started at a keypunch machine — feeding data into computers one card at a time, in a world where the idea of creating art with technology was pure science fiction. Nobody could have told me then that decades later I'd be standing in two art galleries in Pensacola, Florida, with collectors across the country hanging my work on their walls.

But before the keypunch, there was a camera.

I was a Girl Scout when photography first found me — a badge, a film camera in my hands, and suddenly I was seeing the world differently. Noticing light. Chasing moments. Learning that you only get so many frames, so you'd better make each one count. Film taught me discipline. It taught me to slow down and really look before I shot.

That lesson never left me.

Over the years photography evolved into something I never could have predicted — digital art that blends photography, painting, texture and light into images that go far beyond what any camera captures alone. Today I use Midjourney, Lightroom, Photoshop and Topaz to create pieces that don't just show you a place — they make you feel it.

Technology didn't replace my creativity. It unleashed it.

I call what I do Chasing the WOW — that split second when light hits just right, when color and emotion collide, when you see something so beautiful it stops you dead in your tracks. That's what I'm always after. And that's what I want every piece of my art to give you.

My work lives in four collections — Coastal Soul, Liquid Garden, Chasing the Pattern and The Human Canvas — each one a different world, all connected by that same relentless chase for the extraordinary hiding in the ordinary.

I'm so glad you found your way here. This blog is where I'll share the stories behind the art, the lessons I've learned along the way, the WOW moments that inspire me daily — and maybe a little humor about what it's really like to be an artist juggling two galleries, an online store and a Midjourney subscription all at once! 😄

This is my creative journey. And it's just getting started.

Welcome to the chase.

— Deborah A. HughesPhotoArtsy.com | Artworks Perdido Key | Artworks Seville