Who am I?

  What can I say?  I am many things: a teacher, mechanic, animal lover, hunter, daredevil, thoughtful daydreamer, feverish writer, avid reader. Most importantly, I am a daughter of Christ. 

  I am an aspiring artist, building my career and experience from the ground up.  I channel my love of animals, my fervent desire for adventure, and creative freedom through every piece of my art. 

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  From the very time that I learned to use a pencil, I loved art.  Without lessons or professional classes, I relied solely on my mother’s advice and on the books that I received from beloved relatives as gifts.  My mother heavily influenced me with her appreciation for art, in teaching me and hanging it in almost every room of the house.  Her favorite and also my favorite painter, Maxfield Parrish, is now the centerpiece of my study of the fine arts.  As I continue to study art, I intend to take after his example—to transform fantasies into realities, all the while expanding my repertoire and teaching it to the next generation.

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   I thank the Lord for the talent he blessed me with.  I have no one else to thank for my respect and affection of art than my family.  My mother encouraged me to establish a business that revolved around my art.  Though, I consider the money I earn for my efforts merely a side-benefit of the real fruits of my work.  I find solace from the happiness it brings to people around me as I channel my artistic spirit through commemorative paintings and drawings.

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   For 12 years, my parents shepherded me and taught me many things, some things I could never have learned from anyone else.  They showed me how to be resilient, even in the midst of hardships or the passing of loved ones.  My mom taught me to uphold my word and to show kindness to others.  My dad taught me the value of peace-making with others and the meaning of honesty.  My sister taught me the strength of patience and my brother the importance of objectivity. 

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  I was schooled at home until I reached middle school, and it would prove to be a challenge that no teaching could prepare me for.  It was a time where I first felt helpless, betrayed, used, manipulated, and weak with only the Lord and my art as my company.  At the end of it all, when someone asked me to think of one good memory I had, I couldn't answer them right away.  Yet in spite of all the pain I felt, I was grateful.  Some of the most important lessons in life are the hardest to the stomach, but you still need to learn them.  Nothing of value worth earning in this world comes easily, without hard work and diligence.  Despite someone else's malcontent, treat them with kindness.  I would not know these things otherwise. 

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  Those three years made clear to me what and whom I wanted to be.  My eyes opened, to how much I enjoyed spreading kindness to others and how to bring out the best in people through the gift that He gave me.  Through pain and tribulation, He tested my heart.  Through loneliness and ordeals, He taught me kindness.  It made me the young artist I am.  Now I will strive to create art, and try to pour as much of my heart and soul as I can muster into every single one that I make.

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When I stand before God, at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”

                                    - Erma Bombeck

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