The process of creating, pick one or any of the arts, is - for me, the pinnacle of the human experience. To support myself as an artist I’ve followed many artistic paths –writing and illustrating my own children’s books has been my goal from kindergarten to the present.
I’ve had several decades of experience as an illustrator, but like everything else, our field has changed dramatically with the advent of computers and outsourcing. I’ve been exploring fine arts through collage, calligraphy, pen and ink, and paints, as well as the joy of creating art digitally.
Living in New York City gave me a doctorate in humanity, you see everything there. I lived in the buildings that the play and movie Rent was written about, an indescribable experience. My adulthood was shaped by the creativity, people, education and experiences afforded me by that great city.
My art always gets back to storytelling. It’s true that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” expressed through the elements of color, texture, pattern, and composition. A big part of being creative is learning that mistakes have taken me in more unexpected directions than following the original plan. Has it been easy? No! Has it been fulfilling? Most of the time.
Once, when I was walking the empty halls of The New School on my way to taking a class, my footsteps echoing in the marble halls with high ceilings, I sighed and said out loud to NO ONE, “God, all you gave me is a big imagination.” A voice from nowhere said “What do you think your imagination IS?” I dropped everything I was carrying – I looked around the empty hall and classrooms to find who said that. No one was there. Laughing, I realized that ‘my big imagination’ is MY greatest gift.
All images are copyrighted by the artist and can only be used with permission from the creator of the art.