I started drawing later on in life than most people. Most artists that you ask will say they started when they first could hold a crayon, but when I was in fourth grade, I made the very silly judgement call that I wasn't good at art. From that point on, I believed fourth-grader me late into my teens and missed out on many precious years of creating. I guess that's what happens when you let a fourth grader make a decision about your life.

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Though I believed being good at drawing and creating was a gift reserved for the special few, I still insisted on painting every cardboard box I could find in geometric shapes; nothing could stop my love for painting, not even being bad at it. When I was around sixteen years old, an old friend kindly bullied me into drawing again. Were they good drawings? Absolutely not. Did she regret encouraging me to try? Most likely, but I was quite happy to have tried because they came out better than I expected. "I can work with this," I thought. So I tried again. And again. And again. I didn't mind that struggle with pen and paper.

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 My new adventure could not have started at a better time because I soon to give up my life passion for ballet and hang up my pointe shoes. With an exciting new love for a different type of art, the transition from my first love in dance was a little less painful. Though the ballet part of my life is over, the discipline of its serious study has enabled me to grow year after year and excel in new creations and mediums.

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 Ever since then, I have been working and playing with art as much as possible. Painting is my greatest love of all with a fixation on gouache and oils. I will temporarily be distracted from the brush by the dazzle of graphite, charcoal, and markers, but I can't help but find my way back to paint.

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You may see my traditional leanings even in my digital paintings, but I like to think it elevates the piece to something new and different. I do not allow myself to become stagnant in one area of art, while ignoring all else. I try to master as much as I can, while staying true to my personal loves. Whether in drawing, painting, ballet, or any other type of art, it is a never-ending process and one I look forward to mastering the rest of my life.

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Moral of the Story: Don't let your life be determined by decisions of your younger self, but still stay true to what you have always been passionate about.