Some people have asked me if I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I am one of those fortunate enough to say yes, I always knew. Knowing didn't make me one. I wasn't born with a natural ability. I don't believe in natural born artists, but I do believe some of us are born being able to relate to the world by observing lines, textures, space, and color just as there are some of us who are born being able to relate to the world through numbers, language, music, nature, and interactions between people.
I grew up the youngest daughter of an architect. Some of my earliest memories are those I spent in my father's architecture office, sitting on a high stool at a drafting table piled with paper, pens, pencils, triangles, and t-squares. I can still see myself as a young child who spent untold amounts of time at the kitchen table coloring in my coloring book with a box of eight or sixteen or (Oh My Goodness!)twenty-four crayola crayons! I would not see a box of sixty-four luscious colored crayons until third grade.
So, though I don't believe I was born with natural talent, I do believe I was encouraged and nurtured to express myself in ways that brought me hours of delight and for that I will be eternally grateful to my parents.
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