I get asked a lot about how I got started as an artist. “Does it come naturally? Has it taken years to perfect?” I usually start off by saying…

I started just like any other 6 year old, drawing stick figures and sloppy shapes. My projects blended in with the rest. What made the difference though was this intrigue I had with the art realm from day one. I saw how it brought people together, how it helped us feel understood… it became a second language to me. The more I learned of techniques, styles, expressions, the more I wished to embrace that side of life.

I attribute most of my actual skills to the environment I had growing up. My parents always made it a value of theirs to encourage creative expression, bringing home paint by number kits a little advanced for our age, drawing cards for friends, and my dad always kept instruments in the house for us to learn if we wished. Looking back, I really appreciate how they never imposed their own ideas of which creativity should fill our time. They left it up to us, and supported that choice in any way they could.

Between that, and the school system in Ringwood, I was given every opportunity to grow as an artist. They had a gifted and talented program for music and art, which my parents helped me take full advantage of. Through high school, I took every art course I could, connecting lessons from the past and testing the bounds of curriculum (my teachers can attest). By senior year, I had permission to rummage through the small art supply closet allotted to the department… an independent study of sorts.

So in answer to the initial question, yes some of it comes naturally. My great grandfather was an artist, painted murals in the city even. And a few other family members, but, like them with their talents, I’m more inclined to think the 15 years I’ve spent practicing has added more to my repertoire. Which is why I encourage anyone wanting to try a creative outlet to give it a shot, it’s worth the time.