A life ahead

Though I was banned from art hour for a week at age five, and chased out of my great-uncle’s studio at nine; though my art teacher told me at fifteen to forget art college and join the military;  my father laughed at every drawing I made, leaving me to sketch away from home and dispose of my work on the way back — despite all that — I kept returning to it.
 
Throughout my life, in every job I held, I would find and steer opportunities to use my creative mind: calligraphy, presentations, photography, engraving, and more. I did these things freely, as favours, never as gifts — always without charge. And between roles, and often between homes, I turned to art in other forms: land art, murals, cards, the occasional painting request. Whatever I could find, I offered willingly. If someone needed a sign, I would provide — or even buy — the wood, the paint, the brushes.
 
For a long time I never understood something: I thought people asked me because they were busy, or lacked the right tools, or simply hadn’t the time. It never occurred to me they asked because they could not do it themselves. That always came as a shock. I could understand why someone might not be able to build a model — but how could anyone not know how to draw, or paint, or create in any of these ways that seemed so natural? I had no idea.
 
Now here I am. Since 1999 I have pursued a deeper understanding of art and creativity. I have sought to experience every practice I had not yet tried — a kind of final push to find where I might settle and feel at home in my later years. I have kept pace with the contemporary, and found myself embracing AI and digital art — arriving far later in life than one might imagine for such new ground. Too late for formal courses, perhaps; instead, I am learning as I always have: by doing. And as this field advances so quickly, it seems a lifetime of learning still lies ahead.

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