A Short Autobiography of My Life Regarding Art

    When I was younger, I loved to draw. (I mostly loved to draw Sonic the Hedgehog, but that's a conversation for another time.) Some of the best times in my childhood were seeing family, friends, and teachers enjoying my art and my writing. My dream job as a child was to become an author and illustrator. I felt most in my element when I got to be creative. 

Art by Jan Brett, my favorite author/illustrator when I was a kid.

    Sadly, when I was a teenager, I didn't focus on my art as much. I began dating a boy when I was 13 who convinced me that I should do band to spend more time with him rather than do art classes. So, being extremely impressionable at that age, I did exactly what he told me to do. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved band and I loved playing the saxophone, being in marching band, etc., but I do wish I hadn't given up on my art. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I took an art class again and started doing chalk art that I realized what I had missed all along. I LOVED learning how to paint and I LOVED being with other artists.

    

A little chalk art I did the summer after my senior year.

    Still, even though I found my new/not-so-new love for art again, I went to college thinking there was no way I could ever be good enough to study art in any professional sense. So, I went into teaching geography and history. Both subjects I love, but I felt that art was not in the cards for me because I had not worked on my skills enough throughout my youth.

    There was an opportunity however in college where I needed an elective and Drawing I stood out to me. I decided to take it and loved it so, so much. I loved my professor and I felt like my art abilities soared. At the end of the semester my professor pulled me aside and gave me a "change of major" form urging me to become an art major. This was a huge boost of confidence but still... I could not bring myself to make the change. I didn't feel like I was good enough still.

My final project. Self portrait in charcoal.

    In the years since graduating college I have found out that teaching full time in a high school is not my thing at this time. So, for the past few years I have been back and forth between working part time and working on my art part time. Every time though it seemed that art was dropped in favor of more "important" things like housekeeping and looking at my phone (eye roll). So, in the past few years I wondered about what I wanted my art career to look like. Did I want to teach? Did I want to go into animation? Did I want to be a fine artist? I had no idea. I just knew I wanted to do something with art.

    In the last few years I have tried a lot of different things. I illustrated 9 books, I wrote and illustrated a comic about my life, and I have started an etsy selling cross stitch patterns. I still feel like though that it is time to really hone my skills and discover truly where my art can take me.