I never once considered that I was an “artist”, that is until I realised how much free time I used just to create various pieces of artwork. Art is my outlet for all the penned up creativity and flow of emotions inside me. I use art for the freedom of my ideas and to turn them into a visible piece. I feel inspired by everything around me, books, emotions, landscapes, everything. Sitting here, I aspire to never lose my love of creation, that it follows me to when I am withered and barely able to hold a pencil. I hope that when people see my work, they pause and really ponder what they are looking at. That is a reward in itself. Although, I am not interested in making it a job, I want to be capable of sharing my ideas that were made into a reality.
       What first leads me to creating a piece, is spark of inspiration. I have a clear image in my head of what I want the artwork to look like. I pick materials based on what is accessible but also which ones are going to best benefit in what I am making. So, watercolor might be favored over acrylic if I want the picture to be more translucent and have watered down effect. I don’t stick to a theme, I find. Sometimes, choosing specific tones to show the emotion in the piece. Essentially, I take the idea and execute it based on, again, how I want it to look. The image in my head alters over the process though, my mind continues to come up with new ideas to improve the project. So, the original plan usually is changed several times before I finish it.
        Currently, though, I have been experimenting more than ever. In my past artwork, I have been safe in what I have done, keeping to guidelines and standards to what it should look like. But I realised in the past year that art isn’t a defined word. You can break out of the box and do something completely off the spectrum and it is still a piece of artwork. Lately, I have begun to use various materials, working a lot with multimedia. My favourite, in recent days, is the taking of a single word and creating a whole piece out of that one word. It allows me to challenge myself and explore new ideas. I hope in the future, to experiment even further with materials specifically and find new ways to use them.

          Finally, I leave you with a quote: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” -THOMAS MERTON