For as long as I can remember I have dabbled in the world of art. I was never one who "drew inside the lines." My mother told me that when I learned to write on grid paper, my letters would be various shapes and sizes, and when she asked me what the grid was for, I simply replied that it was for "decoration."
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| Coloring outside of the lines... |
My kindergarten teacher was worried that I had a learning disability because while all the other children drew portraits with necks, my human portraits had neither necks nor ears. What my teacher didn't realize was that I didn't draw necks on my portraits, not because I failed to notice them, but because I didn't like the way they came out when drawn. And ears... those were even more difficult to get to look even!
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| Me showing off my Gumby skills as a toddler. |
More confusing still may have been the fact that although I was ambidextrous, I definitely had preferences in terms of which hand I did what with. In fact, for years I was convinced that I could only draw with my left hand until one day a friend pointed out to me that I had drawn half of a doodle with my right hand before finishing it off with my left (This was in high school!).
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| A further demonstration of child Gumby-ness. |
Throughout elementary school I would use pens and pencils to carve my erasers into stamps, using markers as stamp pads. I would always be doodling away in school, trying to perfect the drawing of a perfect star (which has yet to happen...).
I started a jewelry making club in high school and was a member of the school's dance choreography team. In college I took a Makeup for the Motion pictures class, and when it came time to decide on what to do after college, I was thoroughly torn between trying my hand at fashion design or attending law school.
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| Yes, I really went out like this for fun with friends one night. |
Ultimately, I chose law school because I figured I would never want to go back to school after trying fashion and that art could always wait. However, throughout graduate school I continued to dabble in both cooking and artistic endeavors. I would often spend a few hours a night making various trinkets and would often cook elaborate meals for large groups of friends.
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| My first ever attempt at more elaborate clay creation - a wedding topper for a friend. |
Post graduation, I practiced law for a number of years, but always in the back of my mind, I always wanted to give a real go at pursuing my artistic endeavors. And so, now in Boston, I find myself in a new environment, giving myself time to cultivate, discover and find the artist inside.
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| Whew! Graduation day! |
Wish me luck!
XoXo,
Joyce
