Quick Take
In a Lookout Q&A, John Flores talks about his zigzag from hairstylist to watercolors, his inspirations and his advice to other would-be Squigglers.
We all know someone with a clear eye on their future, who decides early on what they want to do or be. But many people don’t follow straight lines: They decide on, or fall into, a profession, only to later realize it’s not for them. Identifying a deep yearning to switch careers and do something different is only the first step. Next might be taking classes or finding a mentor. Even then, the hardest part is still to come: Jumping off that ledge and doing it. We call those of us who have zigzagged through our professional lives Squigglers.
John Flores is a Squiggler. For more than 40 years he was a professional hairstylist, making a good income and enjoying his work. Except for one thing: He really and truly wanted to be a watercolor artist. And now he is.
With the support of his husband, state Sen. John Laird, Flores finally took the leap, quit his job, and started painting full-time in his early 60s, eight years ago. He sells his nature prints and gives art lessons. This October will be his fifth time in Open Studios, a free self-guided tour of more than 300 local art studios put on by Arts Council Santa Cruz County (Saturdays and Sundays only from Oct. 4 to 19.)
Peggy Flynn talks to Flores about his career path from hair stylist to artist.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lookout: John, tell us a bit about your journey to becoming an artist.
John Flores: It took a long time for me to say to myself “I am an artist.” I spent 42 years as a hairstylist but I knew deep down that I wanted to do more than create flattering hairstyles. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the work. I was creating art in a different form, but it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I wanted to paint. I wanted to be an artist.
Lookout: How did your hairstyling career start?
Flores: Well, it sounded like fun and I needed a profession to support myself. My father said I needed a “real job,” and while being a gay hairstylist who lived alone with a cat felt like a stereotype, that was my real job and my real life and I wasn’t unhappy, but I felt like something was missing.
Lookout: Did you paint or do anything artistic growing up?
Flores: I remember drawing as a kid, and later I drew charcoal and pencil portraits of clients’ kids, but I never dreamed I would one day be a watercolor artist. I’m from a big family. There wasn’t money for extra stuff, but I saved birthday money —when I got some—and bought paper and pen to draw: people, trees, clouds. Only my mom encouraged me, no one else expressed admiration for my little drawings.
Lookout: So how do you squiggle from great hairstyling, making a nice living, playing with your cat, to full- or even part-time artist?
Flores: Well, I was enjoying my styling work, but wishing I could be another kind of artist. So I took a big leap and enrolled in graphic design classes. I did well and liked it, and I was so happy when I landed a full-time graphic design job. I kept styling hair part-time. I remember thinking, “I’m finally on the road.”
Lookout: And were you?
Flores: Not quite. I started having severe back and leg pains from the constant standing doing hair. I couldn’t work and the design job laid me off. I remember it clear as day, and the sadness, thinking, “There goes that dream.”
Lookout: That must have been so hard, to let go of a dream. What did you do?
Flores: When the graphic design job ended, I went back to hairstyling, although my body still suffered. I made good money, heck, it was hard to give it up. But yes, I did think my dream was gone. “Maybe it’s not meant to be,” I said to myself. But I never stopped drawing and sketching. The desire in me wasn’t gone. I started telling friends, clients and even crazy people in bars: “There’s an artist inside me.”
Lookout: Do you remember a turning point? Did someone encourage you?
Flores: The opposite. Some friends said I was crazy. “Don’t give up your styling,” they said. Maybe there was a catalyst, now that I look back. I do remember someone, probably more than one friend, saying, “Trying to be an artist would be ‘too damn hard.’” And that statement, more than the other negative ones, really hit me. I thought: What will be the hardest part? What’s the worst that can happen? Know what I said to myself?
Lookout: Tell us.
Flores: I said: The worst thing that can happen is that I wasted some paper.
Lookout: Have you wasted some?
Flores: You betcha!
Lookout: You were fired up again, to hell with wasting paper! What came next?
Flores: I started taking art classes, not graphic design like last time, and going to local workshops, anything that interested me and that I could afford. I remember classes at our art league really helped. I learned a lot. I went to workshops in Mendocino that turned out to be one of my really special places.
Lookout: What about Mendocino inspired you?
Flores: The beauty of the coastline, for sure. The redwoods, the huge boulders and coastal bluffs. But more than that, even though it feels wild and untamed, it makes me feel calm and peaceful whenever I paint there. Anywhere on the North Coast, but Mendocino is super special to me. Those early paintings reminded me this is who I was truly meant to be. Nature moves me, from childhood until now. For me, it’s so calming, so peaceful, and it makes me feel so relaxed.
Lookout: But what did you do for money?
Flores: I kept working as a hairstylist until one day I said to myself, “I’m ready to make the leap. I’m going to leave styling behind.” Of course, having a spouse who was still working full time, made it easier economically, for sure. [John is married to state Sen. John Laird.]
Lookout: You made the leap and presto! You were a painter!
Flores: I wish! I was still scared. But I remember telling myself that the fear might be about being successful, but it wasn’t about who I am, who I believed that I really and truly was. I also started painting every day. I still do.
Lookout: That takes a lot of discipline! How did it feel?
Flores: Kind of easy because I wanted to!
Lookout: You paint about nature and you mentioned how being in nature makes you feel, how important it is to your work. Where do you think that comes from?
Flores: It’s an interesting question because I didn’t know until recently that my paintings bring my past and my present together.
Lookout: How so?
Flores: I remember as a kid jumping on my bike, riding as fast as I could, up and down our neighborhood streets. I just wanted to be outside, away from home, away from an unhappy family. Now, I ride my e-bike to Wilder [Ranch State Park]. But I’m not escaping anymore. I’m immersing myself. Just being in nature fills me and I breathe it all in. It’s what I paint; it’s why I paint.
Lookout: Any advice to offer? Any thoughts on being a squiggler?
Flores: Whenever someone tells me that they want to try something, or change something in their lives, I give them the same advice I gave myself: Ask yourself the question: what’s the worst that can happen if you try? What’s the worst that can happen if you don’t try?
Lookout: In other words, be a squiggler?
Flores: Squiggle away!
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