My journey as an artist has not been a straight path. I dreamed of being an artist but I did not have a realistic idea of learning how to draw paint or design. I also had an unrealistic idea of how quickly the skills are mastered. I thought that learning to draw was easy. I thought I could master it overnight. I didn't think I would have to work hard for it. That I would have to love dedicating hours to the basic technique exercises to improve my skill levels. I wanted everything to come easy and wanted to enjoy the outcome vs the journey.

For me, I find drawing, painting and design extremely challenging. I wrestle with comprehension, hand-eye coordination and developing concepts. It requires me to put more effort into creating art, these techniques always looked so easy when seeing other artists’ work.It has been my unrealistic expectations that have led to many failures and burnouts when I had quit in the past. Each time that I quit it was “for real” this time, but as you see, quitting wasn’t a real option for me. I always came back to my passion of being an artist. However my approach to becoming an artist did need to change to fit my needs, skills, and abilities.

The last time that I quit and came back, I decided to do things unconventional. These things were not taught to me and frowned upon by my artists peers. I had to go as basic and as elementary as possible. I decided that I would go back to Kindergarten to learn how to draw.

I grabbed a couple super simple techniques books and started drawing from them. I drew every single image from the books. I would draw the same leaf, flower, or botanical images over and over until I had filed an entire 11x14 sheet of paper. My first botanical line drawing book by Peggy Dean had 200 images that I copied.

In the beginning my drawings were really ugly, but I believed that eventually with time I would get better. In a year, I had finally started seeing progress in my ability. That progress inspired me to continue my work.

It wasn’t easy, I was highly discouraged at times, but I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. If I can share anything for my journey it would be that even you can learn how to draw.