I was always an artist. When I was three or four, one of my favorite pastimes, aside from playing Star Wars, was drawing.
The summer before I entered kindergarten, I was involved in a fiery explosion, the burns from which put me in the ICU for a week, and I spent another three weeks in the hospital after that. Toward the end of that time, I had to relearn how to walk.
That's a ton of downtime, especially given that my hospital room was about three hours from my family's home. However, one of the best discoveries of those days spent alone was a pad of unlined paper and a mechanical pencil. (It didn't need to be sharpened!)
I still hate sharpening pencils, but that pencil was way exciting to my child brain. Drawing became my go-to Boredom Slayer. But as time went by, I healed from my burns and other things caught my interest: writing, the martial arts (once I was old enough to get a job to pay for the classes), even acting (once I finally got past the idea that the bullies who had dogged my trail since first grade didn't need an excuse, so you might as well act).
But I always loved art. I even toyed with the idea of creating art for a living. Then, in high school, I had an art teacher who, while teaching the finer points of working with acrylic paint, managed somehow to squelch any thoughts I harbored for pursuing an art career. Or a writing career or really anything in the arts field.
That's not really a fair assessment. Mr. ... well Mr. Blank, we'll call him ... he was not, in truth, my first naysayer. Nor were the bullies who ridiculed my every feature (glasses, hand-me-down clothes from my nine older siblings, lack of affection for sports that required a ball). Oh sure, none of that helped. But my first, worst, and final critic ... is me.
And that's why it's taken me so long to get to this place, selling my art, head and hopes held high.
There is a lot more to my story. There always is, right?
But those are tales for other days. I hope you're able to join me for a few of them.
In the meantime, swing by my Gallery. It's still in the creation state but I hope to have things updated soon.
Catch you on the flip.
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