Women of Wisdom

These four pieces are special to me because they represent stages of my creative journey.

"Do you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?"

When I was young, perhaps 6 or 7, I had two loves, doodling and music.  Ive always doodled.  Looking at my childhood diaries, I see many manga characters and simple doodles I created all over the page.  But one art teacher in elementary school ended my love of doodles. She had a strict guidelines for drawing and coloring and it didn't make sense to me. So I convinced myself that I wasn't meant to do art. My second love was playing the piano. I started when I was 5. When we moved from Japan to Arkansas, we couldn't find a piano teacher good enough to help me grow playing classical, so I eventually gave it up. All throughout my school years, I was guided by my parents and teachers to pursue math and science because I was good at it. Eventually, I forgot about my two loves.  

"You see things and you say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not?" - George Bernard Shaw

I suppose I've always been creative.  In college and grad school, that creativity was useful in various research projects I was involved in. Even as a teacher, it helped me create some fun lessons for my students. But it wasn't until I had children that I rediscovered my two childhood loves. Art came first as I created obligatory scrapbooks for my children. I begin to draw more, learn new techniques on HGTV. Scrapbooks turned into canvas projects which eventually led me to art journaling. When my son was 5, he started piano lessons. His teacher was classically trained and eventually I started to take lessons. I'm sure I drove my family crazy with hours of practice but I rediscovered my love of classical piano.I am proud to say I can now play a few of my favorited pieces.

"Sometimes you have to look back to see how far you have come."

Im not sad or bitter about missed opportunists. I'm glad for all my experiences. I still don't call myself an artist because most of the time, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't do realistic art or create drawing from memory.  I create art pieces that are meaning for for me.  And sometimes, they are meaningful to others and that makes me happy.  

"She turned her can'ts into cans and her dreams into plans."

Look at me now. I share my art with different social media groups, I'm even blogging about art! I'm so grateful for those who kept encouraging me to share my art.  I'll continue to learn and grow. Thanks for being a part of my art journey!