Labels and Titles
Sandra the daughter, the sister, the wife, the mother, the web master and the artist.
These are titles, or perhaps more aptly put, are labels that describe a person but do these same titles define that person in real terms? I am all of these and yet some of these adjectives apply to me more than others do. I confess that am still discovering just who I really am by these terms and labels, more so as I grow older. Each title, each label has molded my personality and prepared me for the challenges of life. You will note that the artist title appears twice. This is not a misprint but an intention. I gave the order of what I was born to, and slowly evolved into and out of as the years of my life have progressed. The last one, artist, is the one title I would prefer to become more of a focus in my life now.
Horses, Faces, and Art
Wood Burn of a Horse Age Drawn 13
I wanted desperately to own a horse of my own at the tender age of 10. It was an impossible wish, my parents being very practical and prudent with money told me there was no possibility of that happening. So I was given books with pictures of horses, and more books with instructions on how to care for horses. I was allowed to ride at the local stable, and each week I saved the precious money it took to insure my place in the saddle for $1.50 an hour. I decided that the next best thing to owning a horse was to conjure one out of paper, so I began, frustratingly to draw them.
My child like sketches were crude at best and never completely represented the proud and defiant steed of my dreams. I struggled, producing endless drawings from tracings of photographs, over and over but never to my complete satisfaction. This process of frustration and discovery taught me to appreciate artists in general and the subjects that inspire them to create.
Childs Face Age Drawn 18
My crude drawings got better with time and inspired me to choose art as my emphasis throughout junior high and high school. I learned how to see in a different way and that talent was learned, not necessarily something your are born with. I developed a fascination with faces and soon discovered I loved drawing people. My intention was to go to college and study commercial art.
Chance and Choices
Whether by chance or conscious choice, a commercial art degree never happened for me. I studied fashion merchandising, and had a brief career as a model, retail sales person, and later as an engineering technician before becoming a full time wife and mother. My appreciation and love of art stayed in the background while I learned new things and had numerous adventures with my son and husband. I still drew from time to time but not with the same frequency that I did as a child and student.
I married a science lover. Danny chose chemistry as his first love long before he met me, but fulfilled his dream with a joint effort from both of us. We both went to college at night together right after we met and for years even after we married. It took a long time, part time, to achieve his goal and get his degree. All the while I wandered in college with him taking courses toward a more practical degree in business. I still took an art course too, something I will never forget. That was my first and only time drawing nude models. What an experience that was in art and physiology! I produced some interesting pieces that I still proudly display today, however none of those are nudes, sorry to disappoint!
After that, computers took over the better part of my career path. I learned to manipulate words and graphics into printed documentation, create online help with hypertext, which later evolved into HTML, Internet pages, and content management systems. As such I can now call myself a designer of web pages, which is an art in and of itself.
Creativity and Freedom
Life has taken us on some interesting and challenging paths but perhaps not as challenging as the recent economic crisis has. This current climate has forced me into a self evaluation, not in terms of what I have achieved in the past, but what I would want to achieve for the future. I thirst more for meaning and freedom of expression, rather than creature comforts or security as I did when I was younger. I now want to be known as Sandra the artist and let the chips fall where they may. I figure I have nothing to loose and everything to gain. It is creativity and freedom of expression that fosters greatness in everyone. To that end, I will contribute what I can to this blog in an effort to achieve that goal.