I remember being in primary school (elementary school for all my US/Canadian followers) and saying I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I read a quote the other day by Dr. Zwig which really resonated with me " Your earliest dream or memory is a map for your growth-use it! "
I LOVED to draw, hours would go by and I would be sat surrounded by sheets of paper with drawings of horses or flowers or my favorite tv/movie characters at the time.
I used to spend a lot of time in the Lake District ( it’s literally mountains and lakes like the name suggests) as a child and probably up to my early 20’s.This is likely where my love of nature and travel has come from!
I remember my grandad doing a lot of watercolor
painting and he would take me out to different places to paint with him, or I would look through books of photography of different places in the Lake District and paint them.
I was always creating is some way or another.
I took art class all through high school and would often stay after school to work on my paintings.
Then I got to college, I took art classes and lasted maybe 2-3 months. I hated it! It was not me or my style at all and we had to research techniques and artists I had no interest in. I left the class and didn’t come back.
I went to University to study Psychology and ended up doing a Masters in Behavioral Science, mainly because I had no clue what to do after my degree! I now work as a behavioral interventionist for children with Autism. I love my job! But art is always at the back of my mind in some way or another. I am often caught up my thoughts about what I want to draw next, how i can create value for other artists or what I want my future business to evolve into!
I tried a few times during University to make a small business from my work, I sold the odd piece, but it didn’t really go anywhere. I would take a break and not draw anything for months and months, then something in my mind would say “try again” so I did. I couldn’t let it go, I always felt like that was what I was supposed to be doing, and I owed it to myself to purse it.
2 years ago I moved from the U.K to Canada. For me it was a new start and a new opportunity to create a future as an artist that I had always envisioned. My partner who I met in University was originally from Vancouver. We travelled there on holiday in 2017 and then made the decision to move there! Side note- if you have ever considered moving to another country- do it! It changed my life and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
I began by posting a few dog drawings in a local Facebook group and I was blown away by the feedback! Over the last 2 years my business has finally started to shape into what I hoped it would! I still have a long way to go with it and I have so many ideas about how I was it to look eventually, I work every day to make that happen.
My point here is this; if you have something that has always been at the back of your mind that you wanted to do, a “dream” or an idea that just seems to keep on showing up. Pursue it. I really, truly believe that it’s not just a coincidence, it’s not just something you like to do, it’s a calling, that feeling is there for a reason and you know what else? It’s not going to go away until you pay attention to it and say ok, I hear you, let’s see where we can go with this.
I never feel truly at peace and content unless I am drawing. There are lots of things in my life that make me very happy and feel full filled, but nothing quite matches that feeling I get from my art.